Automatic file encryption

ABSTRACT

A method for automatically encrypting files is disclosed. In some cases, the method may be performed by computer hardware comprising one or more processors. The method can include detecting access to a first file, which may be stored in a primary storage system. Further, the method can include determining whether the access comprises a write access. In response to determining that the access comprises a write access, the method can include accessing file metadata associated with the first file and accessing a set of encryption rules. In addition, the method can include determining whether the file metadata satisfies the set of encryption rules. In response to determining that the file metadata satisfies the set of encryption rules, the method can include encrypting the first file to obtain a first encrypted file and modifying an extension of the first encrypted file to include an encryption extension.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/175,534, filed on Jun. 7, 2016 and titled “AUTOMATIC FILEENCRYPTION,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by referencein its entirety and which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/042,061, filed on Sep. 30, 2013 and titled “AUTOMATIC FILEENCRYPTION,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by referencein its entirety and which claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C.§ 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/777,195, filed onMar. 12, 2013, and entitled “DATA LEAK PROTECTION,” the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Further, thisapplication is related to the following applications that were filed onSep. 30, 2013, and which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety herein: U.S. application Ser. No. 14/042,062, titled “ENCRYPTEDFILE PRESENTATION”; U.S. application Ser. No. 14/042,076, titled“AUTOMATIC FILE DECRYPTION”; U.S. application Ser. No. 14/042,095,titled “FILE BACKUP WITH SELECTIVE ENCRYPTION”; U.S. application Ser.No. 14/042,106, titled “MULTI-TIER FILE RESTORATION”; U.S. applicationSer. No. 14/042,216, titled “MULTI-LAYER EMBEDDED ENCRYPTION”; and U.S.application Ser. No. 14/042,173, titled “ENCRYPTED FILE BACKUP.”

BACKGROUND

Businesses worldwide recognize the commercial value of their data andseek reliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored ontheir computer networks while minimizing impact on productivity.Protecting information is often part of a routine process that isperformed within an organization.

A company might back up critical computing systems such as databases,file servers, web servers, and so on as part of a daily, weekly, ormonthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarly protectcomputing systems used by each of its employees, such as those used byan accounting department, marketing department, engineering department,and so forth.

Given the rapidly expanding volume of data under management, companiesalso continue to seek innovative techniques for managing data growth, inaddition to protecting data. For instance, companies often implementmigration techniques for moving data to lower cost storage over time anddata reduction techniques for reducing redundant data, pruning lowerpriority data, etc.

Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuableasset. Along these lines, customers are looking for solutions that notonly protect and manage, but also leverage their data. For instance,solutions providing data analysis capabilities, improved datapresentation and access features, and the like, are in increasingdemand.

For many users, maintaining the security of electronic data is anever-increasing concern and is growing ever more expensive. Preventingthe leakage of data is of particular importance to enterprise users whooften have access to private customer data, including financialinformation (e.g., social security numbers, credit card data, etc.). Thechallenges related to maintaining data security has continued toincrease as more and more enterprise users utilize mobile devices tostore and/or access data within an enterprise environment, and outsideof the enterprise environment.

Today, to help protect data and to increase the accessibility of thedata both throughout the enterprise environment and outside of theenterprise environment, many users and organizations store data onsecondary storage devices or on a device in a network (e.g., cloudstorage devices). In many cases, the data is encrypted on the secondarystorage device. Although data is more secure when stored in an encryptedform on the secondary storage device, securing the data on the secondarystorage device does not prevent malicious users from accessing sensitivedata on a primary storage device (e.g., a client computing device).

SUMMARY

For purposes of summarizing the disclosure, certain aspects, advantagesand novel features of the inventions have been described herein. It isto be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may beachieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the inventionsdisclosed herein. Thus, the inventions disclosed herein may be embodiedor carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage orgroup of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving otheradvantages as may be taught or suggested herein.

Certain embodiments described herein include a method for automaticallyencrypting files. In some cases, the method may be performed by computerhardware comprising one or more processors. The method can includedetecting access to a first file, which may be stored in a primarystorage system. Further, the method can include determining whether theaccess comprises a write access. In response to determining that theaccess comprises a write access, the method can include accessing filemetadata associated with the first file and accessing a set ofencryption rules. In addition, the method can include determiningwhether the file metadata satisfies the set of encryption rules. Inresponse to determining that the file metadata satisfies the set ofencryption rules, the method can include encrypting the first file toobtain a first encrypted file and modifying an extension of the firstencrypted file to include an encryption extension.

In some embodiments, a system for automatically encrypting files isdisclosed. The system can include a primary storage system configured tostore a first file. In addition, the system can include a file monitorcomprising computer hardware and configured to detect access to thefirst file and to determine whether the access comprises a write access.Further, the system can include an encryption rules repositoryconfigured to store encryption rules. In addition, the system caninclude an encryption rules engine comprising computer hardware andconfigured to access file metadata associated with the first file inresponse to the file monitor determining that the access comprises awrite access. The encryption rules engine may be further configured toaccess a set of encryption rules from the encryption rules repositoryand to determine whether the file metadata satisfies the encryptionrules. Moreover, the system may include an encryption module comprisingcomputer hardware and configured to encrypt the first file to obtain afirst encrypted file in response to the encryption rules enginedetermining that the file metadata satisfies the encryption rules.Further, the encryption module may be configured to modify an extensionof the first encrypted file to include an encryption extension. In somecases, the computer hardware may include multiple computing devices.

In certain embodiments, a method for displaying encrypted files isdisclosed. In some cases, the method may be performed by computerhardware comprising one or more processors. The method can includeaccessing an encrypted file, which may be an encrypted version of anunencrypted file. The unencrypted file may have an extension that isdifferent than an extension of the encrypted file. Further, the methodmay include accessing metadata associated with the encrypted file anddetermining a file type of the file based, at least in part, on themetadata. In addition, the file can include outputting for display areference to the encrypted file based, at least in part, on the filetype. The reference to the encrypted file may be configured to mimic, atleast in part, the extension of the unencrypted file.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure can include a method fordisplaying encrypted files, which, in some cases, may be performed bycomputer hardware comprising one or more processors. This method caninclude accessing an encrypted file that may be an encrypted version ofa file. Further, the method can include accessing metadata associatedwith the encrypted file and determining a file type of the file based,at least in part, on the metadata. In addition, the method may includeoutputting for display a reference to the encrypted file based, at leastin part, on the file type. This reference to the encrypted file may beconfigured to mimic, at least in part, a reference to the file.

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure include a system fordisplaying encrypted files. The system can include a display screenconfigured to output a user interface and an interface agent comprisingcomputer hardware. The interface agent may be configured to access anencrypted file. The encrypted file may be an encrypted version of anunencrypted file, which may include an extension that is different thanan extension of the encrypted file. Further, the interface agent may beconfigured to access metadata associated with the encrypted file anddetermine a file type of the file based, at least in part, on themetadata. Moreover, the interface agent may be configured to output fordisplay on the display screen a reference to the encrypted file based,at least in part, on the file type. The reference to the encrypted filemay be configured to mimic, at least in part, the extension of theunencrypted file.

In some embodiments, a method for automatically decrypting files isdisclosed. The method, in some cases, may be performed by computerhardware comprising one or more processors. In some instances, themethod can include authenticating a user based, at least in part, onauthentication information provided by the user. The method may furtherinclude receiving a request to access a file stored in primary storageand determining based, at least in part, on a file extension of the filewhether the file is an encrypted file. In some instances, the encryptedfile comprises a modified file extension indicating that the encryptedfile is encrypted. Further, in some instances, a reference to the fileis displayed to the user as an unencrypted file regardless of whetherthe file is encrypted. In response to determining that the file is anencrypted file, the method can include determining whether the user isauthorized to access the file based, at least in part, on theauthentication information without prompting the user for theauthentication information in response to the request to access thefile. In response to determining that the user is authorized to accessthe file, the method may include decrypting the file to obtain adecrypted file and providing the user with access to the decrypted file.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, a system forautomatically decrypting files is disclosed. The system can include anauthentication system comprising computer hardware and configured toauthenticate a user based, at least in part, on authenticationinformation provided by the user. Further, the system may include aprimary storage configured to store encrypted files and unencryptedfiles, and a secure file access module comprising computer hardware andconfigured to receive a request to access a file stored in the primarystorage. The secure file access module may be further configured todetermine based, at least in part, on a file extension of the filewhether the file is an encrypted file. The encrypted file may include amodified file extension indicating that the encrypted file is encrypted.In some cases, a reference to the file is displayed to the user as anunencrypted file regardless of whether the file is encrypted. Inaddition, the secure file access module may be configured to determinewhether the user is authorized to access the file based, at least inpart, on the authentication information without prompting the user forthe authentication information in response to the request to access thefile. The system may further include a decryption module comprisingcomputer hardware and configured to decrypt the file to obtain adecrypted file in response to the secure file access module determiningthat the file is an encrypted file and the user is authorized to accessthe file. In addition, the system can include an interface agentcomprising computer hardware and configured to provide the user withaccess to the decrypted file obtained by the decryption module inresponse to the secure file access module determining that the file isan encrypted file and the user is authorized to access the file.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure include a method for backingup a file, which may be performed by a computing system comprising oneor more processors. The method can include receiving, at a media agent,a command from a storage manager to backup a file at a secondary storagedevice. Further, the method can include receiving the file from a dataagent and determining whether the file is an encrypted file. In responseto determining that the file is an encrypted file, the method caninclude identifying an encryption algorithm used to encrypt the file andstoring metadata associated with the file. The metadata may include anidentity of the encryption algorithm. Further, the method may includestoring the file at the secondary storage device without performing anencryption process. In response to determining that the file is not anencrypted file, the method can include encrypting the file to obtain anencrypted file and storing the encrypted file at the secondary storagedevice.

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure include a system forbacking up a file. The system can include a primary storage deviceconfigured to store a set of files and a secondary storage deviceconfigured to store a backup of a file from the set of files. Further,the system can include a storage manager comprising computer hardwareand configured to initiate the backup of the file. Initiating the backupof the file can include sending a first backup command to a data agent.In addition, the system can include a data agent comprising computerhardware and configured to provide the file to the media agent based, atleast in part, to receiving the first backup command. Moreover, thesystem can include a media agent comprising computer hardware andconfigured to receive the file from the data agent and determine whetherthe file is an encrypted file. In response to determining that the fileis an encrypted file, the media agent may store the file at thesecondary storage device without performing an encryption process.Further, in response to determining that the file is not an encryptedfile, the media agent may encrypt the file to obtain an encrypted fileand store the encrypted file at the secondary storage device.

In some embodiments, a method for restoring a file from secondarystorage is disclosed. This method, in some cases, may be performed by acomputing system comprising one or more processors. In some instances,the method includes receiving, at a media agent, a command from astorage manager to restore a file from a secondary storage device to arecipient system. Further, the method may include accessing thesecondary storage device to retrieve the file and accessing metadataassociated with the file. In addition, the method may includedetermining based, at least in part, on the metadata whether the filewas encrypted by the media agent. In response to determining that themedia agent encrypted the file, the method can include decrypting thefile to obtain an unencrypted file and providing the recipient systemwith access to the unencrypted file.

In certain embodiments, a system for restoring a file from secondarystorage is disclosed. This system can include a secondary storage deviceconfigured to store a backup of a file. In some instance, the backup ofthe file is an encrypted file. Further, the system can include a storagemanager comprising computer hardware and configured to initiate therestoration of the file. Initiating the restoration of the file caninclude sending a restore command to a media agent. Moreover, the systemcan include a media agent comprising computer hardware and configured toretrieve the file from the secondary storage device in response toreceiving the restore command. The media agent may also access metadataassociated with the file and determine based, at least in part, on themetadata whether the file was encrypted by the media agent. In responseto determining that the media agent encrypted the file, the media agentmay decrypt the file to obtain an unencrypted file and provide arecipient system with access to the unencrypted file.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure include a method forrestoring a file from secondary storage. This method, in some cases, maybe performed by a computing system comprising one or more processors. Insome instances, the method includes receiving, at a media agent, acommand from a storage manager to restore a file from a secondarystorage device to a recipient system. Further, the method may includeaccessing the secondary storage device to retrieve the file andaccessing metadata associated with the file. In addition, the method mayinclude determining based, at least in part, on the metadata whether thefile is encrypted. In response to determining that the file isencrypted, the method can include modifying the file to mimic, at leastin part, an unencrypted version of the file without decrypting the fileand providing the recipient system with access to the modified file.

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure include a system forrestoring a file from secondary storage. The system can include asecondary storage device configured to store a backup of a file. In somecases, the backup of the file is an encrypted file. Further, the systemcan include a storage manager comprising computer hardware andconfigured to initiate the restoration of the file. Initiating therestoration of the file can include sending a restore command to a mediaagent. In addition, the system can include a media agent comprisingcomputer hardware and configured to retrieve the file from the secondarystorage device in response to receiving the restore command. Moreover,the media agent may be configured to access metadata associated with thefile and to determine based, at least in part, on the metadata whetherthe file is encrypted. In response to determining that the file isencrypted, the media agent may be configured to modify the file tomimic, at least in part, an unencrypted version of the file withoutdecrypting the file. Further, the media agent may be configured toprovide a recipient system with access to the modified file.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, a method forautomatically encrypting files is disclosed. The method may be performedby a computing system comprising one or more processors. In some cases,in response to determining that file metadata associated with a filestored in a primary storage system satisfies a set of encryption rules,the method includes encrypting the file to obtain an encrypted file andmodifying an extension of the encrypted file to include an encryptionextension. Encrypting the file comprises obtaining a data encryption keyand encrypting the file with the data encryption key to obtain theencrypted file. Further, encrypting the file includes identifying a setof users who are authorized to access the file. For each user from theset of users, encrypting the file further includes encrypting a copy ofthe data encryption key for the user to obtain an encrypted copy of thedata encryption key and embedding the encrypted copy of the dataencryption key with the encrypted file.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a system is presented forautomatically encrypting files. The system can include a primary storagesystem configured to store a file and an encryption rules systemcomprising computer hardware and configured to store a set of encryptionrules. Further, the system may include a data agent comprising computerhardware. The data agent may be is associated with a file system of thesystem. Further, the data agent may be configured to access the set ofencryption rules from the encryption rules system and determine based,at least in part, on the set of encryption rules that the file is to beencrypted. In addition, the system can generate a data encryption keyand encrypt the file with the data encryption key to obtain an encryptedfile. In addition, the system may identify a set of users who areauthorized to access the file. For each of the users from the set ofusers, the data agent may be further configured to encrypt a copy of thedata encryption key for the user to obtain an encrypted copy of the dataencryption key and include the encrypted copy of the data encryption keywith the encrypted file.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, a method is presentedfor backing up a primary storage system. The method may be performed bya computing system comprising one or more processors. The method mayinclude identifying a file stored at a primary storage system for backupto a secondary storage system and determining whether the file is anencrypted file. In response to determining that the file is an encryptedfile, the method may include extracting an encrypted data encryption keyfrom the file and decrypting the encrypted data encryption key to obtaina data encryption key. Moreover, the method may include decrypting thefile using the data encryption key to obtain a decrypted file andproviding the decrypted file to the secondary storage system for backup,thereby enabling the secondary storage system to more efficiently storefiles at the secondary storage system.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure describe a system for backingup a primary storage system. The system can include a primary storagedevice configured to store a set of files and a data agent comprisingcomputer hardware. The data agent may be configured to identify a filefrom the set of files for backup to a secondary storage system and todetermine whether the file is an encrypted file. In response todetermining that the file is an encrypted file, the data agent may befurther configured to extract an encrypted data encryption key from thefile and to decrypt the encrypted data encryption key to obtain a dataencryption key. Further, the data agent may be configured to decrypt thefile using the data encryption key to obtain a decrypted file and toprovide the decrypted file to the secondary storage system for backup,thereby enabling the secondary storage system to more efficiently storefiles at the secondary storage system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are re-used to indicatecorrespondence between referenced elements. The drawings are provided toillustrate embodiments of the inventive subject matter described hereinand not to limit the scope thereof.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a secondarystorage device, and some examples of primary data and secondary copydata.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information management systemincluding a storage manager, one or more data agents, and one or moremedia agents.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations according to anexemplary storage policy.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a client computingenvironment including a client computing device and a primary storagedevice.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example embodiment of an encryption determinationprocess.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example embodiment of an encrypted file displayprocess.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example embodiment of an encrypted file accessprocess.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example embodiment of a file backup process.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example embodiment of a file restoration process.

FIG. 8 illustrates a second example embodiment of a file restorationprocess.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a clientcomputing environment including a client computing device and a primarystorage device.

FIG. 10A illustrates an example embodiment of a user key encryptionprocess.

FIG. 10B illustrates an example embodiment of a primary storage fileencryption process.

FIG. 11 illustrates a second example embodiment of a file backupprocess.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example embodiment of a client passphrasereplacement process.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example embodiment of a client key replacementprocess.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Information Management System Overview

With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data,organizations simply cannot afford to take the risk of losing criticaldata. Moreover, runaway data growth and other modern realities makeprotecting and managing data an increasingly difficult task. There istherefore a need for efficient, powerful, and user-friendly solutionsfor protecting and managing data.

Depending on the size of the organization, there are typically many dataproduction sources which are under the purview of tens, hundreds, oreven thousands of employees or other individuals. In the past,individual employees were sometimes responsible for managing andprotecting their data. A patchwork of hardware and software pointsolutions have been applied in other cases. These solutions were oftenprovided by different vendors and had limited or no interoperability.

Certain embodiments described herein provide systems and methods capableof addressing these and other shortcomings of prior approaches byimplementing unified, organization-wide information management. FIG. 1Ashows one such information management system 100, which generallyincludes combinations of hardware and software configured to protect andmanage data and metadata generated and used by the various computingdevices in the information management system 100.

The organization which employs the information management system 100 maybe a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization,educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the like.

Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may becompatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of thesystems and corresponding components described in one or more of thefollowing U.S. patents and patent application publications assigned toCommVault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated in itsentirety by reference herein:

-   -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681, entitled “DATA OBJECT STORE AND SERVER        FOR A CLOUD STORAGE ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING DATA DEDUPLICATION        AND DATA MANAGEMENT ACROSS MULTIPLE CLOUD STORAGE SITES”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled “MODULAR BACKUP AND RETRIEVAL        SYSTEM USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH A STORAGE AREA NETWORK”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled “HIERARCHICAL SYSTEMS AND        METHODS FOR PROVIDING A UNIFIED VIEW OF STORAGE INFORMATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,282, entitled “HIERARCHICAL BACKUP AND        RETRIEVAL SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR        DYNAMICALLY PERFORMING STORAGE OPERATIONS IN A COMPUTER        NETWORK”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579, entitled “METABASE FOR FACILITATING        DATA CLASSIFICATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,954, entitled “MANAGING COPIES OF DATA”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR        MONITORING APPLICATION DATA IN A DATA REPLICATION SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR        PERFORMING A SNAPSHOT AND FOR RESTORING DATA”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR        PERFORMING AUXILIARY STORAGE OPERATIONS”;    -   U.S. Pat No. 8,364,652, entitled “CONTENT-ALIGNED, BLOCK-BASED        DEDUPLICATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD TO        SUPPORT SINGLE INSTANCE STORAGE OPERATIONS”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0319534, entitled “APPLICATION-AWARE AND        REMOTE SINGLE INSTANCE DATA MANAGEMENT”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, entitled “DISTRIBUTED        DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150818, entitled “CLIENT-SIDE        REPOSITORY IN A NETWORKED DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OFFLINE        INDEXING OF CONTENT AND CLASSIFYING STORED DATA”; and    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR        STORED DATA VERIFICATION”.

The illustrated information management system 100 includes one or moreclient computing device 102 having at least one application 110executing thereon, and one or more primary storage devices 104 storingprimary data 112. The client computing device(s) 102 and the primarystorage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases as aprimary storage subsystem 117.

Depending on the context, the term “information management system” canrefer to generally all of the illustrated hardware and softwarecomponents. Or, in other instances, the term may refer to only a subsetof the illustrated components.

For instance, in some cases information management system 100 generallyrefers to a combination of specialized components used to protect, move,manage, manipulate and/or process data and metadata generated by theclient computing devices 102. However, the term may generally not referto the underlying components that generate and/or store the primary data112, such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, theapplications 110 and operating system residing on the client computingdevices 102, and the primary storage devices 104.

As an example, “information management system” may sometimes refer onlyto one or more of the following components and corresponding datastructures: storage managers, data agents, and media agents. Thesecomponents will be described in further detail below.

Client Computing Devices

There are typically a variety of sources in an organization that producedata to be protected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in acorporate environment such data sources can be employee workstations andcompany servers such as a mail server, a web server, or the like. In theinformation management system 100, the data generation sources includethe one or more client computing devices 102.

The client computing devices 102 may include, without limitation, one ormore: workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, or othertypes of generally fixed computing systems such as mainframe computersand minicomputers.

The client computing devices 102 can also include mobile or portablecomputing devices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers,personal data assistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and othermobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set topboxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc.

In some cases, each client computing device 102 is associated with oneor more users and/or corresponding user accounts, of employees or otherindividuals.

The term “client computing device” is used herein because theinformation management system 100 generally “serves” the data managementand protection needs for the data generated by the client computingdevices 102. However, the use of this term does not imply that theclient computing devices 102 cannot be “servers” in other respects. Forinstance, a particular client computing device 102 may act as a serverwith respect to other devices, such as other client computing devices102. As just a few examples, the client computing devices 102 caninclude mail servers, file servers, database servers, and web servers.

The client computing devices 102 may additionally include virtualizedand/or cloud computing resources. For instance, one or more virtualmachines may be provided to the organization by a third-party cloudservice vendor. Or, in some embodiments, the client computing devices102 include one or more virtual machine(s) running on a virtual machinehost computing device operated by the organization. As one example, theorganization may use one virtual machine as a database server andanother virtual machine as a mail server. A virtual machine manager(VMM) (e.g., a Hypervisor) may manage the virtual machines, and resideand execute on the virtual machine host computing device.

Each client computing device 102 may have one or more applications 110(e.g., software applications) executing thereon which generate andmanipulate the data that is to be protected from loss.

The applications 110 generally facilitate the operations of anorganization (or multiple affiliated organizations), and can include,without limitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft ExchangeServer), file server applications, mail client applications (e.g.,Microsoft Exchange Client), database applications (e.g., SQL, Oracle,SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processing applications (e.g.,Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financial applications,presentation applications, browser applications, mobile applications,entertainment applications, and so on.

The applications 110 can include at least one operating system (e.g.,Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, other Unix-basedoperating systems, etc.), which may support one or more file systems andhost the other applications 110.

As shown, the client computing devices 102 and other components in theinformation management system 100 can be connected to one another viaone or more communication pathways 114. The communication pathways 114can include one or more networks or other connection types including asany of following, without limitation: the Internet, a wide area network(WAN), a local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN), a FibreChannel connection, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) connection,a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring or TCP/IP based network,an intranet network, a point-to-point link, a cellular network, awireless data transmission system, a two-way cable system, aninteractive kiosk network, a satellite network, a broadband network, abaseband network, other appropriate wired, wireless, or partiallywired/wireless computer or telecommunications networks, combinations ofthe same or the like. The communication pathways 114 in some cases mayalso include application programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g.,cloud service provider APIs, virtual machine management APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs.

Primary Data and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 according to some embodiments is production data orother “live” data generated by the operating system and otherapplications 110 residing on a client computing device 102. The primarydata 112 is stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and is organizedvia a file system supported by the client computing device 102. Forinstance, the client computing device(s) 102 and correspondingapplications 110 may create, access, modify, write, delete, andotherwise use primary data 112.

Primary data 112 is generally in the native format of the sourceapplication 110. According to certain aspects, primary data 112 is aninitial or first (e.g., created before any other copies or before atleast one other copy) stored copy of data generated by the sourceapplication 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is created substantiallydirectly from data generated by the corresponding source applications110.

The primary data 112 may sometimes be referred to as a “primary copy” inthe sense that it is a discrete set of data. However, the use of thisterm does not necessarily imply that the “primary copy” is a copy in thesense that it was copied or otherwise derived from another storedversion.

The primary storage devices 104 storing the primary data 112 may berelatively fast and/or expensive (e.g., a disk drive, a hard-disk array,solid state memory, etc.). In addition, primary data 112 may be intendedfor relatively short term retention (e.g., several hours, days, orweeks).

According to some embodiments, the client computing device 102 canaccess primary data 112 from the primary storage device 104 by makingconventional file system calls via the operating system. Primary data112 representing files may include structured data (e.g., databasefiles), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structureddata. Some specific examples are described below with respect to FIG.1B.

It can be useful in performing certain tasks to break the primary data112 up into units of different granularities. In general, primary data112 can include files, directories, file system volumes, data blocks,extents, or any other types or granularities of data objects. As usedherein, a “data object” can refer to both (1) any file that is currentlyaddressable by a file system or that was previously addressable by thefile system (e.g., an archive file) and (2) a subset of such a file.

As will be described in further detail, it can also be useful inperforming certain functions of the information management system 100 toaccess and modify metadata within the primary data 112. Metadatagenerally includes information about data objects or characteristicsassociated with the data objects.

Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following:the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), thelast modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification ofthe data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data objectsize (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content(e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term),to/from information for email (e.g., an email sender, recipient, etc.),creation date, file type (e.g., format or application type), lastaccessed time, application type (e.g., type of application thatgenerated the data object), location/network (e.g., a current, past orfuture location of the data object and network pathways to/from the dataobject), frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object ismodified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates,manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), and aginginformation (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the dataobject is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors,partition layouts, file location within a file folder directorystructure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists[ACLs]), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations ofthe same or the like.

In addition to metadata generated by or related to file systems andoperating systems, some of the applications 110 maintain indices ofmetadata for data objects, e.g., metadata associated with individualemail messages. Thus, each data object may be associated withcorresponding metadata. The use of metadata to perform classificationand other functions is described in greater detail below.

Each of the client computing devices 102 are associated with and/or incommunication with one or more of the primary storage devices 104storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computing device 102may be considered to be “associated with” or “in communication with” aprimary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or more of: storingdata to the primary storage device 104, retrieving data from the primarystorage device 104, and modifying data retrieved from a primary storagedevice 104.

The primary storage devices 104 can include, without limitation, diskdrives, hard-disk arrays, semiconductor memory (e.g., solid statedrives), and network attached storage (NAS) devices. In some cases, theprimary storage devices 104 form part of a distributed file system. Theprimary storage devices 104 may have relatively fast I/O times and/orare relatively expensive in comparison to the secondary storage devices108. For example, the information management system 100 may generallyregularly access data and metadata stored on primary storage devices104, whereas data and metadata stored on the secondary storage devices108 is accessed relatively less frequently.

In some cases, each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to anassociated client computing devices 102. For instance, a primary storagedevice 104 in one embodiment is a local disk drive of a correspondingclient computing device 102. In other cases, one or more primary storagedevices 104 can be shared by multiple client computing devices 102. Asone example, a primary storage device 104 can be a disk array shared bya group of client computing devices 102, such as one of the followingtypes of disk arrays: EMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, DellEqualLogic, IBM XIV, NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.

The information management system 100 may also include hosted services(not shown), which may be hosted in some cases by an entity other thanthe organization that employs the other components of the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, the hosted services may be providedby various online service providers to the organization. Such serviceproviders can provide services including social networking services,hosted email services, or hosted productivity applications or otherhosted applications).

Hosted services may include software-as-a-service (SaaS),platform-as-a-service (PaaS), application service providers (ASPs),cloud services, or other mechanisms for delivering functionality via anetwork. As it provides services to users, each hosted service maygenerate additional data and metadata under management of theinformation management system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In somecases, the hosted services may be accessed using one of the applications110. As an example, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browserrunning on a client computing device 102.

Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices

The primary data 112 stored on the primary storage devices 104 may becompromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately oraccidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112 during their normalcourse of work. Or the primary storage devices 104 can be damaged orotherwise corrupted.

For recovery and/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is thereforeuseful to generate copies of the primary data 112. Accordingly, theinformation management system 100 includes one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and one or more secondary storage devices 108configured to create and store one or more secondary copies 116 of theprimary data 112 and associated metadata. The secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and the secondary storage devices 108 may bereferred to in some cases as a secondary storage subsystem 118.

Creation of secondary copies 116 can help meet information managementgoals, such as: restoring data and/or metadata if an original version(e.g., of primary data 112) is lost (e.g., by deletion, corruption, ordisaster); allowing point-in-time recovery; complying with regulatorydata retention and electronic discovery (e-discovery) requirements;reducing utilized storage capacity; facilitating organization and searchof data; improving user access to data files across multiple computingdevices and/or hosted services; and implementing data retentionpolicies.

Types of secondary copy operations can include, without limitation,backup operations, archive operations, snapshot operations, replicationoperations (e.g., continuous data replication [CDR]), data retentionpolicies such as or information lifecycle management and hierarchicalstorage management operations, and the like. These specific typesoperations are discussed in greater detail below.

Regardless of the type of secondary copy operation, the client computingdevices 102 access or receive primary data 112 and communicate the data,e.g., over the communication pathways 114, for storage in the secondarystorage device(s) 108.

A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of applicationdata that is derived from one or more earlier created, stored copies(e.g., derived from primary data 112 or another secondary copy 116).Secondary copies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intendedfor relatively long-term retention (e.g., weeks, months or years),before some or all of the data is moved to other storage or isdiscarded.

In some cases, a secondary copy 116 is a copy of application datacreated and stored subsequent to at least one other stored instance(e.g., subsequent to corresponding primary data 112 or to anothersecondary copy 116), in a different storage device than at least oneprevious stored copy, and/or remotely from at least one previous storedcopy. Secondary copies 116 may be stored in relatively slow and/or lowcost storage (e.g., magnetic tape). A secondary copy 116 may be storedin a backup or archive format, or in some other format different thanthe native source application format or other primary data format.

In some cases, secondary copies 116 are indexed so users can browse andrestore at another point in time. After creation of a secondary copy 116representative of certain primary data 112, a pointer or other locationindicia (e.g., a stub) may be placed in primary data 112, or beotherwise associated with primary data 112 to indicate the currentlocation on the secondary storage device(s) 108.

Since an instance a data object or metadata in primary data 112 maychange over time as it is modified by an application 110 (or hostedservice or the operating system), the information management system 100may create and manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular dataobject or metadata, each representing the state of the data object inprimary data 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since aninstance of a data object in primary data 112 may eventually be deletedfrom the primary storage device 104 and the file system, the informationmanagement system 100 may continue to manage point-in-timerepresentations of that data object, even though the instance in primarydata 112 no longer exists.

For virtualized computing devices the operating system and otherapplications 110 of the client computing device(s) 102 may executewithin or under the management of virtualization software (e.g., a VMM),and the primary storage device(s) 104 may comprise a virtual diskcreated on a physical storage device. The information management system100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other data objectsin a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entire virtualdisk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).

Secondary copies 116 may be distinguished from corresponding primarydata 112 in a variety of ways, some of which will now be described.First, as discussed, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a differentformat (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-native format) than primarydata 112. For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not bedirectly useable by the applications 110 of the client computing device102, e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise without modification,processing, or other intervention by the information management system100.

Secondary copies 116 are also often stored on a secondary storage device108 that is inaccessible to the applications 110 running on the clientcomputing devices 102 (and/or hosted services). Some secondary copies116 may be “offline copies,” in that they are not readily available(e.g. not mounted to tape or disk). Offline copies can include copies ofdata that the information management system 100 can access without humanintervention (e.g. tapes within an automated tape library, but not yetmounted in a drive), and copies that the information management system100 can access only with at least some human intervention (e.g. tapeslocated at an offsite storage site).

The secondary storage devices 108 can include any suitable type ofstorage device such as, without limitation, one or more tape libraries,disk drives or other magnetic, non-tape storage devices, optical mediastorage devices, solid state storage devices, NAS devices, combinationsof the same, and the like. In some cases, the secondary storage devices108 are provided in a cloud (e.g. a private cloud or one operated by athird-party vendor).

The secondary storage device(s) 108 in some cases comprises a disk arrayor a portion thereof. In some cases, a single storage device (e.g., adisk array) is used for storing both primary data 112 and at least somesecondary copies 116. In one example, a disk array capable of performinghardware snapshots stores primary data 112 and creates and storeshardware snapshots of the primary data 112 as secondary copies 116.

The Use of Intermediary Devices for Creating Secondary Copies

Creating secondary copies can be a challenging task. For instance, therecan be hundreds or thousands of client computing devices 102 continuallygenerating large volumes of primary data 112 to be protected. Also,there can be significant overhead involved in the creation of secondarycopies 116. Moreover, secondary storage devices 108 may be specialpurpose components, and interacting with them can require specializedintelligence.

In some cases, the client computing devices 102 interact directly withthe secondary storage device 108 to create the secondary copies 116.However, in view of the factors described above, this approach cannegatively impact the ability of the client computing devices 102 toserve the applications 110 and produce primary data 112. Further, theclient computing devices 102 may not be optimized for interaction withthe secondary storage devices 108.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100includes one or more software and/or hardware components which generallyact as intermediaries between the client computing devices 102 and thesecondary storage devices 108. In addition to off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102, theseintermediary components can provide other benefits. For instance, asdiscussed further below with respect to FIG. 1D, distributing some ofthe work involved in creating secondary copies 116 can enhancescalability.

The intermediary components can include one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 as shown in FIG. 1A and/or one or more mediaagents, which can be software modules residing on correspondingsecondary storage computing devices 106 (or other appropriate devices).Media agents are discussed below (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1C-1E).

The secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise anyappropriate type of computing device and can include, withoutlimitation, any of the types of fixed and portable computing devicesdescribed above with respect to the client computing devices 102. Insome cases, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 includespecialized hardware and/or software componentry for interacting withthe secondary storage devices 108.

To create a secondary copy 116, the client computing device 102communicates the primary data 112 to be copied (or a processed versionthereof) to the designated secondary storage computing device 106, viathe communication pathway 114. The secondary storage computing device106 in turn conveys the received data (or a processed version thereof)to the secondary storage device 108. In some such configurations, thecommunication pathway 114 between the client computing device 102 andthe secondary storage computing device 106 comprises a portion of a LAN,WAN or SAN. In other cases, at least some client computing devices 102communicate directly with the secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., viaFibre Channel or SCSI connections).

Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy

FIG. 1B is a detailed view showing some specific examples of primarydata stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary copy datastored on the secondary storage device(s) 108, with other components inthe system removed for the purposes of illustration. Stored on theprimary storage device(s) 104 are primary data objects including wordprocessing documents 119A-B, spreadsheets 120, presentation documents122, video files 124, image files 126, email mailboxes 128 (andcorresponding email messages 129A-C), html/xml or other types of markuplanguage files 130, databases 132 and corresponding tables 133A-133C).

Some or all primary data objects are associated with a primary copy ofobject metadata (e.g., “Meta1-11”), which may be file system metadataand/or application specific metadata. Stored on the secondary storagedevice(s) 108 are secondary copy objects 134A-C which may include copiesof or otherwise represent corresponding primary data objects andmetadata.

As shown, the secondary copy objects 134A-C can individually representmore than one primary data object. For example, secondary copy dataobject 134A represents three separate primary data objects 133C, 122 and129C (represented as 133C′, 122′ and 129C′, respectively). Moreover, asindicated by the prime mark (′), a secondary copy object may store arepresentation of a primary data object or metadata differently than theoriginal format, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, orother modified format.

Exemplary Information Management System Architecture

The information management system 100 can incorporate a variety ofdifferent hardware and software components, which can in turn beorganized with respect to one another in many different configurations,depending on the embodiment. There are critical design choices involvedin specifying the functional responsibilities of the components and therole of each component in the information management system 100. Forinstance, as will be discussed, such design choices can impactperformance as well as the adaptability of the information managementsystem 100 to data growth or other changing circumstances.

FIG. 1C shows an information management system 100 designed according tothese considerations and which includes: a central storage orinformation manager 140 configured to perform certain control functions,one or more data agents 142 executing on the client computing device(s)102 configured to process primary data 112, and one or more media agents144 executing on the one or more secondary storage computing devices 106for performing tasks involving the secondary storage devices 108.

Storage Manager

As noted, the number of components in the information management system100 and the amount of data under management can be quite large. Managingthe components and data is therefore a significant task, and a task thatcan grow in an often unpredictable fashion as the quantity of componentsand data scale to meet the needs of the organization.

For these and other reasons, according to certain embodiments,responsibility for controlling the information management system 100, orat least a significant portion of that responsibility, is allocated tothe storage manager 140.

By distributing control functionality in this manner, the storagemanager 140 can be adapted independently according to changingcircumstances. Moreover, a host computing device can be selected to bestsuit the functions of the storage manager 140. These and otheradvantages are described in further detail below with respect to FIG.1D.

The storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application.The storage manager generally initiates, coordinates and/or controlsstorage and other information management operations performed by theinformation management system 100, e.g., to protect and control theprimary data 112 and secondary copies 116 of data and metadata.

As shown by the dashed, arrowed lines, the storage manager 140 maycommunicate with and/or control some or all elements of the informationmanagement system 100, such as the data agents 142 and media agents 144.Thus, in certain embodiments, control information originates from thestorage manager 140, whereas payload data and metadata is generallycommunicated between the data agents 142 and the media agents 144 (orotherwise between the client computing device(s) 102 and the secondarystorage computing device(s) 106), e.g., at the direction of the storagemanager 140. In other embodiments, some information managementoperations are controlled by other components in the informationmanagement system 100 (e.g., the media agent(s) 144 or data agent(s)142), instead of or in combination with the storage manager 140.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager provides one ormore of the following functions:

-   -   initiating execution of secondary copy operations;    -   managing secondary storage devices 108 and inventory/capacity of        the same;    -   allocating secondary storage devices 108 for secondary storage        operations;    -   monitoring completion of and providing status reporting related        to secondary storage operations;    -   tracking age information relating to secondary copies 116,        secondary storage devices 108, and comparing the age information        against retention guidelines;    -   tracking movement of data within the information management        system 100;    -   tracking logical associations between components in the        information management system 100;    -   protecting metadata associated with the information management        system 100; and    -   implementing operations management functionality.

The storage manager 140 may maintain a database 146 ofmanagement-related data and information management policies 148. Thedatabase 146 may include a management index 150 or other data structurethat stores logical associations between components of the system, userpreferences and/or profiles (e.g., preferences regarding encryption,compression, or deduplication of primary or secondary copy data,preferences regarding the scheduling, type, or other aspects of primaryor secondary copy or other operations, mappings of particularinformation management users or user accounts to certain computingdevices or other components, etc.), management tasks, mediacontainerization, or other useful data. For example, the storage manager140 may use the index 150 to track logical associations between mediaagents 144 and secondary storage devices 108 and/or movement of datafrom primary storage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108.

Administrators and other employees may be able to manually configure andinitiate certain information management operations on an individualbasis. But while this may be acceptable for some recovery operations orother relatively less frequent tasks, it is often not workable forimplementing on-going organization-wide data protection and management.

Thus, the information management system 100 may utilize informationmanagement policies 148 for specifying and executing informationmanagement operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, aninformation management policy 148 can include a data structure or otherinformation source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteriaand rules) associated with storage or other information managementoperations.

The storage manager database 146 may maintain the information managementpolicies 148 and associated data, although the information managementpolicies 148 can be stored in any appropriate location. For instance, astorage policy may be stored as metadata in a media agent database 152or in a secondary storage device 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for usein restore operations or other information management operations,depending on the embodiment. Information management policies 148 aredescribed further below.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager database 146comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for trackingmetadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations(e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding data wereprotected). This and other metadata may additionally be stored in otherlocations, such as at the secondary storage computing devices 106 or onthe secondary storage devices 108, allowing data recovery without theuse of the storage manager 140.

As shown, the storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a userinterface 158, and a management agent 154, all of which may beimplemented as interconnected software modules or application programs.

The jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/ormonitors the status of some or all storage or other informationmanagement operations previously performed, currently being performed,or scheduled to be performed by the information management system 100.For instance, the jobs agent 156 may access information managementpolicies 148 to determine when and how to initiate and control secondarycopy and other information management operations, as will be discussedfurther.

The user interface 158 may include information processing and displaysoftware, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), an applicationprogram interface (“API”), or other interactive interface through whichusers and system processes can retrieve information about the status ofinformation management operations (e.g., storage operations) or issueinstructions to the information management system 100 and itsconstituent components.

The storage manager 140 may also track information that permits it toselect, designate, or otherwise identify content indices, deduplicationdatabases, or similar databases or resources or data sets within itsinformation management cell (or another cell) to be searched in responseto certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the user viainteraction with the user interface 158.

Via the user interface 158, users may optionally issue instructions tothe components in the information management system 100 regardingperformance of storage and recovery operations. For example, a user maymodify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondary copyoperations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to view thestatus of pending storage operations or to monitor the status of certaincomponents in the information management system 100 (e.g., the amount ofcapacity left in a storage device).

In general, the management agent 154 allows multiple informationmanagement systems 100 to communicate with one another. For example, theinformation management system 100 in some cases may be one informationmanagement subsystem or “cell” of a network of multiple cells adjacentto one another or otherwise logically related in a WAN or LAN. With thisarrangement, the cells may be connected to one another throughrespective management agents 154.

For instance, the management agent 154 can provide the storage manager140 with the ability to communicate with other components within theinformation management system 100 (and/or other cells within a largerinformation management system) via network protocols and applicationprogramming interfaces (“APIs”) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST,virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs. Inter-cell communication and hierarchy isdescribed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,747,579 and 7,343,453,which are incorporated by reference herein.

Data Agents

As discussed, a variety of different types of applications 110 canreside on a given client computing device 102, including operatingsystems, database applications, e-mail applications, and virtualmachines, just to name a few. And, as part of the as part of the processof creating and restoring secondary copies 116, the client computingdevices 102 may be tasked with processing and preparing the primary data112 from these various different applications 110. Moreover, the natureof the processing/preparation can differ across clients and applicationtypes, e.g., due to inherent structural and formatting differencesbetween applications 110.

The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageouslyconfigured in some embodiments to assist in the performance ofinformation management operations based on the type of data that isbeing protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.

The data agent 142 may be a software module or component that isgenerally responsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assistingin the performance of information management operations. For instance,the data agent 142 may take part in performing data storage operationssuch as the copying, archiving, migrating, replicating of primary data112 stored in the primary storage device(s) 104. The data agent 142 mayreceive control information from the storage manager 140, such ascommands to transfer copies of data objects, metadata, and other payloaddata to the media agents 144.

In some embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between theclient computing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any otherintermediate components) or may be deployed from a remote location orits functions approximated by a remote process that performs some or allof the functions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 mayperform some functions provided by a media agent 144, e.g., encryptionand deduplication.

As indicated, each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particularapplication 110, and the system can employ multiple data agents 142,each of which may backup, migrate, and recover data associated with adifferent application 110. For instance, different individual dataagents 142 may be designed to handle Microsoft Exchange data, LotusNotes data, Microsoft Windows file system data, Microsoft ActiveDirectory Objects data, SQL Server data, SharePoint data, Oracledatabase data, SAP database data, virtual machines and/or associateddata, and other types of data.

A file system data agent, for example, may handle data files and/orother file system information. If a client computing device 102 has twoor more types of data, one data agent 142 may be used for each data typeto copy, archive, migrate, and restore the client computing device 102data. For example, to backup, migrate, and restore all of the data on aMicrosoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use oneMicrosoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to backup the Exchangemailboxes, one Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to backup theExchange databases, one Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data agent 142to backup the Exchange Public Folders, and one Microsoft Windows FileSystem data agent 142 to backup the file system of the client computingdevice 102. In such embodiments, these data agents 142 may be treated asfour separate data agents 142 by even though they reside on the sameclient computing device 102.

Other embodiments may employ one or more generic data agents 142 thatcan handle and process data from two or more different applications 110,or that can handle and process multiple data types, instead of or inaddition to using specialized data agents 142. For example, one genericdata agent 142 may be used to back up, migrate and restore MicrosoftExchange Mailbox data and Microsoft Exchange Database data while anothergeneric data agent may handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data andMicrosoft Windows File System data.

Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadatastored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with the dataagent 142 and process the data as appropriate. For example, during asecondary copy operation, the data agent 142 may arrange or assemble thedata and metadata into one or more files having a certain format (e.g.,a particular backup or archive format) before transferring the file(s)to a media agent 144 or other component. The file(s) may include a listof files or other metadata. Each data agent 142 can also assist inrestoring data or metadata to primary storage devices 104 from asecondary copy 116. For instance, the data agent 142 may operate inconjunction with the storage manager 140 and one or more of the mediaagents 144 to restore data from secondary storage device(s) 108.

Media Agents

As indicated above with respect to FIG. 1A, off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102 to intermediarycomponents such as the media agent(s) 144 can provide a number ofbenefits including improved client computing device 102 operation,faster secondary copy operation performance, and enhanced scalability.As one specific example which will be discussed below in further detail,the media agent 144 can act as a local cache of copied data and/ormetadata that it has stored to the secondary storage device(s) 108,providing improved restore capabilities.

Generally speaking, a media agent 144 may be implemented as a softwaremodule that manages, coordinates, and facilitates the transmission ofdata, as directed by the storage manager 140, between a client computingdevice 102 and one or more secondary storage devices 108. Whereas thestorage manager 140 controls the operation of the information managementsystem 100, the media agent 144 generally provides a portal to secondarystorage devices 108.

Media agents 144 can comprise logically and/or physically separate nodesin the information management system 100 (e.g., separate from the clientcomputing devices 102, storage manager 140, and/or secondary storagedevices 108). In addition, each media agent 144 may reside on adedicated secondary storage computing device 106 in some cases, while inother embodiments a plurality of media agents 144 reside on the samesecondary storage computing device 106.

A media agent 144 (and corresponding media agent database 152) may beconsidered to be “associated with” a particular secondary storage device108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routing and/orstoring data to the particular secondary storage device 108,coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particularsecondary storage device 108, retrieving data from the particularsecondary storage device 108, and coordinating the retrieval of datafrom a particular secondary storage device 108.

While media agent(s) 144 are generally associated with one or moresecondary storage devices 108, the media agents 144 in certainembodiments are physically separate from the secondary storage devices108. For instance, the media agents 144 may reside on secondary storagecomputing devices 106 having different housings or packages than thesecondary storage devices 108. In one example, a media agent 144 resideson a first server computer and is in communication with a secondarystorage device(s) 108 residing in a separate, rack-mounted RAID-basedsystem.

In operation, a media agent 144 associated with a particular secondarystorage device 108 may instruct the secondary storage device 108 (e.g.,a tape library) to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load oreject a certain storage media, and to subsequently archive, migrate, orretrieve data to or from that media, e.g., for the purpose of restoringthe data to a client computing device 102. The media agent 144 maycommunicate with a secondary storage device 108 via a suitablecommunications link, such as a SCSI or Fiber Channel link.

As shown, each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agentdatabase 152. The media agent database 152 may be stored in a disk orother storage device (not shown) that is local to the secondary storagecomputing device 106 on which the media agent 144 resides. In othercases, the media agent database 152 is stored remotely from thesecondary storage computing device 106.

The media agent database 152 can include, among other things, an index153 including data generated during secondary copy operations and otherstorage or information management operations. The index 153 provides amedia agent 144 or other component with a fast and efficient mechanismfor locating secondary copies 116 or other data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108. In one configuration, a storage manager index 150or other data structure may store data associating a client computingdevice 102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storagedevice 108, as specified in a storage policy. A media agent index 153 orother data structure associated with the particular media agent 144 mayin turn include information about the stored data.

For instance, for each secondary copy 116, the index 153 may includemetadata such as a list of the data objects (e.g., files/subdirectories,database objects, mailbox objects, etc.), a path to the secondary copy116 on the corresponding secondary storage device 108, locationinformation indicating where the data objects are stored in thesecondary storage device 108, when the data objects were created ormodified, etc. Thus, the index 153 includes metadata associated with thesecondary copies 116 that is readily available for use in storageoperations and other activities without having to be first retrievedfrom the secondary storage device 108. In yet further embodiments, someor all of the data in the index 153 may instead or additionally bestored along with the data in a secondary storage device 108, e.g., witha copy of the index 153.

Because the index 153 maintained in the database 152 may operate as acache, it can also be referred to as an index cache. In such cases,information stored in the index cache 153 typically comprises data thatreflects certain particulars about storage operations that have occurredrelatively recently. After some triggering event, such as after acertain period of time elapses, or the index cache 153 reaches aparticular size, the index cache 153 may be copied or migrated to asecondary storage device(s) 108. This information may need to beretrieved and uploaded back into the index cache 153 or otherwiserestored to a media agent 144 to facilitate retrieval of data from thesecondary storage device(s) 108. In some embodiments, the cachedinformation may include format or containerization information relatedto archives or other files stored on the storage device(s) 108. In thismanner, the index cache 153 allows for accelerated restores.

In some alternative embodiments the media agent 144 generally acts as acoordinator or facilitator of storage operations between clientcomputing devices 102 and corresponding secondary storage devices 108,but does not actually write the data to the secondary storage device108. For instance, the storage manager 140 (or the media agent 144) mayinstruct a client computing device 102 and secondary storage device 108to communicate with one another directly. In such a case the clientcomputing device 102 transmits the data directly to the secondarystorage device 108 according to the received instructions, and viceversa. In some such cases, the media agent 144 may still receive,process, and/or maintain metadata related to the storage operations.Moreover, in these embodiments, the payload data can flow through themedia agent 144 for the purposes of populating the index cache 153maintained in the media agent database 152, but not for writing to thesecondary storage device 108.

The media agent 144 and/or other components such as the storage manager140 may in some cases incorporate additional functionality, such as dataclassification, content indexing, deduplication, encryption,compression, and the like. Further details regarding these and otherfunctions are described below.

Distributed, Scalable Architecture

As described, certain functions of the information management system 100can be distributed amongst various physical and/or logical components inthe system. For instance, one or more of the storage manager 140, dataagents 142, and media agents 144 may reside on computing devices thatare physically separate from one another. This architecture can providea number of benefits.

For instance, hardware and software design choices for each distributedcomponent can be targeted to suit its particular function. The secondarycomputing devices 106 on which the media agents 144 reside can betailored for interaction with associated secondary storage devices 108and provide fast index cache operation, among other specific tasks.Similarly, the client computing device(s) 102 can be selected toeffectively service the applications 110 residing thereon, in order toefficiently produce and store primary data 112.

Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components in theinformation management system 100 can be distributed to multiple,separate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems wherethe amount of data stored in the storage management database 146 isrelatively large, the management database 146 may be migrated to orotherwise reside on a specialized database server (e.g., an SQL server)separate from a server that implements the other functions of thestorage manager 140. This configuration can provide added protectionbecause the database 146 can be protected with standard databaseutilities (e.g., SQL log shipping or database replication) independentfrom other functions of the storage manager 140. The database 146 can beefficiently replicated to a remote site for use in the event of adisaster or other data loss incident at the primary site. Or thedatabase 146 can be replicated to another computing device within thesame site, such as to a higher performance machine in the event that astorage manager host device can no longer service the needs of a growinginformation management system 100.

The distributed architecture also provides both scalability andefficient component utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of theinformation management system 100 including a plurality of clientcomputing devices 102 and associated data agents 142 as well as aplurality of secondary storage computing devices 106 and associatedmedia agents 144.

Additional components can be added or subtracted based on the evolvingneeds of the information management system 100. For instance, dependingon where bottlenecks are identified, administrators can add additionalclient computing devices 102, secondary storage devices 106 (andcorresponding media agents 144), and/or secondary storage devices 108.

Moreover, each client computing device 102 in some embodiments cancommunicate with any of the media agents 144, e.g., as directed by thestorage manager 140. And each media agent 144 may be able to communicatewith any of the secondary storage devices 108, e.g., as directed by thestorage manager 140. Thus, operations can be routed to the secondarystorage devices 108 in a dynamic and highly flexible manner. Furtherexamples of scalable systems capable of dynamic storage operations areprovided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by referenceherein.

In alternative configurations, certain components are not distributedand may instead reside and execute on the same computing device. Forexample, in some embodiments one or more data agents 142 and the storagemanager 140 reside on the same client computing device 102. In anotherembodiment, one or more data agents 142 and one or more media agents 144reside on a single computing device.

Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations

In order to protect and leverage stored data, the information managementsystem 100 can be configured to perform a variety of informationmanagement operations. As will be described, these operations cangenerally include secondary copy and other data movement operations,processing and data manipulation operations, and management operations.

Data Movement Operations

Data movement operations according to certain embodiments are generallyoperations that involve the copying or migration of data (e.g., payloaddata) between different locations in the information management system100. For example, data movement operations can include operations inwhich stored data is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred fromprimary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storage device(s) 108, fromsecondary storage device(s) 108 to different secondary storage device(s)108, or from primary storage device(s) 104 to different primary storagedevice(s) 104.

Data movement operations can include by way of example, backupoperations, archive operations, information lifecycle managementoperations such as hierarchical storage management operations,replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication operations),snapshot operations, deduplication operations, single-instancingoperations, auxiliary copy operations, and the like. As will bediscussed, some of these operations involve the copying, migration orother movement of data, without actually creating multiple, distinctcopies. Nonetheless, some or all of these operations are referred to as“copy” operations for simplicity.

-   -   Backup Operations

A backup operation creates a copy of primary data 112 at a particularpoint in time. Each subsequent backup copy may be maintainedindependently of the first. Further, a backup copy in some embodimentsis stored in a backup format. This can be in contrast to the version inprimary data 112 from which the backup copy is derived, and which mayinstead be stored in a native format of the source application(s) 110.In various cases, backup copies can be stored in a format in which thedata is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modifiedfrom the original application format. For example, a backup copy may bestored in a backup format that facilitates compression and/or efficientlong-term storage.

Backup copies can have relatively long retention periods as compared toprimary data 112, and may be stored on media with slower retrieval timesthan primary data 112 and certain other types of secondary copies 116.On the other hand, backups may have relatively shorter retention periodsthan some other types of secondary copies 116, such as archive copies(described below). Backups may sometimes be stored at on offsitelocation.

Backup operations can include full, synthetic or incremental backups. Afull backup in some embodiments is generally a complete image of thedata to be protected. However, because full backup copies can consume arelatively large amount of storage, it can be useful to use a fullbackup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the fullbackup copy for subsequent backup copies.

For instance, a differential backup operation (or cumulative incrementalbackup operation) tracks and stores changes that have occurred since thelast full backup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but canprovide relatively efficient restore times because a restore can becompleted in some cases using only the full backup copy and the latestdifferential copy.

An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changessince the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reducestorage utilization. In some cases, however, restore times can berelatively long in comparison to full or differential backups becausecompleting a restore operation may involve accessing a full backup inaddition to multiple incremental backups.

Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the file-level,e.g., where the information management system 100 generally trackschanges to files at the file-level, and includes copies of files in thebackup copy. In other cases, block-level backups are employed, wherefiles are broken into constituent blocks, and changes are tracked at theblock-level. Upon restore, the information management system 100reassembles the blocks into files in a transparent fashion.

Far less data may actually be transferred and copied to the secondarystorage devices 108 during a block-level copy than during a file-levelcopy, resulting in faster execution times. However, when restoring ablock-level copy, the process of locating constituent blocks cansometimes result in longer restore times as compared to file-levelbackups. Similar to backup operations, the other types of secondary copyoperations described herein can also be implemented at either thefile-level or the block-level.

-   -   Archive Operations

Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of thecopied data in primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies insecondary storage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storagecapacity. To help reduce storage consumption, an archive operationaccording to certain embodiments creates a secondary copy 116 by bothcopying and removing source data. Or, seen another way, archiveoperations can involve moving some or all of the source data to thearchive destination. Thus, data satisfying criteria for removal (e.g.,data of a threshold age or size) from the source copy may be removedfrom source storage. Archive copies are sometimes stored in an archiveformat or other non-native application format. The source data may beprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. Aswith backup copies, archive copies can be stored in a format in whichthe data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwisemodified from the original application format.

In addition, archive copies may be retained for relatively long periodsof time (e.g., years) and, in some cases, are never deleted. Archivecopies are generally retained for longer periods of time than backupcopies, for example. In certain embodiments, archive copies may be madeand kept for extended periods in order to meet compliance regulations.

Moreover, when primary data 112 is archived, in some cases the archivedprimary data 112 or a portion thereof is deleted when creating thearchive copy. Thus, archiving can serve the purpose of freeing up spacein the primary storage device(s) 104. Similarly, when a secondary copy116 is archived, the secondary copy 116 may be deleted, and an archivecopy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing up space in secondarystorage device(s) 108. In contrast, source copies often remain intactwhen creating backup copies.

-   -   Snapshot Operations

Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficientmechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshotmay be thought of as an “instant” image of the primary data 112 at agiven point in time. In one embodiment, a snapshot may generally capturethe directory structure of an object in primary data 112 such as a fileor volume or other data set at a particular moment in time and may alsopreserve file attributes and contents. A snapshot in some cases iscreated relatively quickly, e.g., substantially instantly, using aminimum amount of file space, but may still function as a conventionalfile system backup.

A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and withoutsignificantly impacting primary computing resources because largeamounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, asnapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual filesystem. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of filesand directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also returnthe current file system to the state of the file system that existedwhen the snapshot was taken.

Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy ofall the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but maysimply create pointers that are able to map files and directories tospecific memory locations (e.g., disk blocks) where the data resides, asit existed at the particular point in time. For example, a snapshot copymay include a set of pointers derived from the file system or anapplication. Each pointer points to a respective stored data block, socollectively, the set of pointers reflect the storage location and stateof the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) or data set(s)) at aparticular point in time when the snapshot copy was created.

In some embodiments, once a snapshot has been taken, subsequent changesto the file system typically do not overwrite the blocks in use at thetime of the snapshot. Therefore, the initial snapshot may use only asmall amount of disk space needed to record a mapping or other datastructure representing or otherwise tracking the blocks that correspondto the current state of the file system. Additional disk space isusually required only when files and directories are actually modifiedlater. Furthermore, when files are modified, typically only the pointerswhich map to blocks are copied, not the blocks themselves. In someembodiments, for example in the case of “copy-on-write” snapshots, whena block changes in primary storage, the block is copied to secondarystorage or cached in primary storage before the block is overwritten inprimary storage. The snapshot mapping of file system data is alsoupdated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular point intime. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copy ofall or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot.Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,529,782, which is incorporated by reference herein.

-   -   Replication Operations

Another type of secondary copy operation is a replication operation.Some types of secondary copies 116 are used to periodically captureimages of primary data 112 at particular points in time (e.g., backups,archives, and snapshots). However, it can also be useful for recoverypurposes to protect primary data 112 in a more continuous fashion, byreplicating the primary data 112 substantially as changes occur. In somecases a replication copy can be a mirror copy, for instance, wherechanges made to primary data 112 are mirrored to another location (e.g.,to secondary storage device(s) 108). By copying each write operation tothe replication copy, two storage systems are kept synchronized orsubstantially synchronized so that they are virtually identical atapproximately the same time. Where entire disk volumes are mirrored,however, mirroring can require significant amount of storage space andutilizes a large amount of processing resources.

According to some embodiments storage operations are performed onreplicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known goodstate” of a particular application running on the source system. Forinstance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may beviewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system todirectly access, copy, restore, backup or otherwise manipulate thereplication copies as if the data was the “live”, primary data 112. Thiscan reduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on sourceapplications 110, among other benefits.

Based on known good state information, the information management system100 can replicate sections of application data that represent arecoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks of data. Examplesof compatible replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication)are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, which is incorporated byreference herein.

-   -   Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations

Another type of data movement operation is deduplication, which isuseful to reduce the amount of data within the system. For instance,some or all of the above-described secondary storage operations caninvolve deduplication in some fashion. New data is read, broken downinto blocks (e.g., sub-file level blocks) of a selected granularity,compared with blocks that are already stored, and only the new blocksare stored. Blocks that already exist are represented as pointers to thealready stored data.

In order to stream-line the comparison process, the informationmanagement system 100 may calculate and/or store signatures (e.g.,hashes) corresponding to the individual data blocks and compare thehashes instead of comparing entire data blocks. In some cases, only asingle instance of each element is stored, and deduplication operationsmay therefore be referred to interchangeably as “single-instancing”operations. Depending on the implementation, however, deduplication orsingle-instancing operations can store more than one instance of certaindata blocks, but nonetheless significantly reduce data redundancy.Moreover, single-instancing in some cases is distinguished fromdeduplication as a process of analyzing and reducing data at the filelevel, rather than the sub-file level.

Depending on the embodiment, deduplication blocks can be of fixed orvariable length. Using variable length blocks can provide enhanceddeduplication by responding to changes in the data stream, but caninvolve complex processing. In some cases, the information managementsystem 100 utilizes a technique for dynamically aligning deduplicationblocks (e.g., fixed-length blocks) based on changing content in the datastream, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652, which is incorporatedby reference herein.

The information management system 100 can perform deduplication in avariety of manners at a variety of locations in the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, in some embodiments, theinformation management system 100 implements “target-side” deduplicationby deduplicating data (e.g., secondary copies 116) stored in thesecondary storage devices 108. In some such cases, the media agents 144are generally configured to manage the deduplication process. Forinstance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain a correspondingdeduplication database that stores deduplication information (e.g.,datablock signatures). Examples of such a configuration are provided inU.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, which is incorporated by referenceherein. Deduplication can also be performed on the “source-side” (or“client-side”), e.g., to reduce the amount of traffic between the mediaagents 144 and the client computing device(s) 102 and/or reduceredundant data stored in the primary storage devices 104. Examples ofsuch deduplication techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. Pub. No.2012/0150818, which is incorporated by reference herein. Some othercompatible deduplication/single instancing techniques are described inU.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2006/0224846 and 2009/0319534, which areincorporated by reference herein.

-   -   Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage        Management Operations

In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move frommore expensive, quick access storage to less expensive, slower accessstorage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers ofstorage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management(ILM) operations.

One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM)operation. A HSM operation is generally an operation for automaticallymoving data between classes of storage devices, such as betweenhigh-cost and low-cost storage devices. For instance, an HSM operationmay involve movement of data from primary storage devices 104 tosecondary storage devices 108, or between tiers of secondary storagedevices 108. With each tier, the storage devices may be progressivelyrelatively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restore times, etc.For example, movement of data between tiers may occur as data becomesless important over time.

In some embodiments, an HSM operation is similar to an archive operationin that creating an HSM copy may (though not always) involve deletingsome of the source data. For example, an HSM copy may include data fromprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 that is larger than a givensize threshold or older than a given age threshold and that is stored ina backup format.

Often, and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removedor aged from the source copy is replaced by a logical reference pointeror stub. The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primarystorage device 104 to replace the deleted data in primary data 112 (orother source copy) and to point to or otherwise indicate the newlocation in a secondary storage device 108.

According to one example, files are generally moved between higher andlower cost storage depending on how often the files are accessed. When auser requests access to the HSM data that has been removed or migrated,the information management system 100 uses the stub to locate the dataand often make recovery of the data appear transparent, even though theHSM data may be stored at a location different from the remaining sourcedata. The stub may also include some metadata associated with thecorresponding data, so that a file system and/or application can providesome information about the data object and/or a limited-functionalityversion (e.g., a preview) of the data object.

An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native applicationformat (e.g., where the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated,and/or otherwise modified from the original application format). In somecases, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage andthe maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on sourcestorage may be referred to generally as “on-line archive copies”. On theother hand, copies which involve the removal of data from source storagewithout the maintenance of stub or other logical reference informationon source storage may be referred to as “off-line archive copies”.

-   -   Auxiliary Copy and Disaster Recovery Operations

An auxiliary copy is generally a copy operation in which a copy iscreated of an existing secondary copy 116. For instance, an initial or“primary” secondary copy 116 may be generated using or otherwise bederived from primary data 112, whereas an auxiliary copy is generatedfrom the initial secondary copy 116. Auxiliary copies can be used tocreate additional standby copies of data and may reside on differentsecondary storage devices 108 than initial secondary copies 116. Thus,auxiliary copies can be used for recovery purposes if initial secondarycopies 116 become unavailable. Exemplary compatible auxiliary copytechniques are described in further detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195,which is incorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 may also perform disaster recoveryoperations that make or retain disaster recovery copies, often assecondary, high-availability disk copies. The information managementsystem 100 may create secondary disk copies and store the copies atdisaster recovery locations using auxiliary copy or replicationoperations, such as continuous data replication technologies. Dependingon the particular data protection goals, disaster recovery locations canbe remote from the client computing devices 102 and primary storagedevices 104, remote from some or all of the secondary storage devices108, or both.

Data Processing and Manipulation Operations

As indicated, the information management system 100 can also beconfigured to implement certain data manipulation operations, whichaccording to certain embodiments are generally operations involving theprocessing or modification of stored data. Some data manipulationoperations include content indexing operations and classificationoperations can be useful in leveraging the data under management toprovide enhanced search and other features. Other data manipulationoperations such as compression and encryption can provide data reductionand security benefits, respectively.

Data manipulation operations can be different than data movementoperations in that they do not necessarily involve the copying,migration or other transfer of data (e.g., primary data 112 or secondarycopies 116) between different locations in the system. For instance,data manipulation operations may involve processing (e.g., offlineprocessing) or modification of already stored primary data 112 and/orsecondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments data manipulationoperations are performed in conjunction with data movement operations.As one example, the information management system 100 may encrypt datawhile performing an archive operation.

-   -   Content Indexing

In some embodiments, the information management system 100 “contentindexes” data stored within the primary data 112 and/or secondary copies116, providing enhanced search capabilities for data discovery and otherpurposes. The content indexing can be used to identify files or otherdata objects having pre-defined content (e.g., user-defined keywords orphrases), metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to”, “from”, “cc”,“bcc”, attachment name, received time, etc.).

The information management system 100 generally organizes and cataloguesthe results in a content index, which may be stored within the mediaagent database 152, for example. The content index can also include thestorage locations of (or pointer references to) the indexed data in theprimary data 112 or secondary copies 116, as appropriate. The resultsmay also be stored, in the form of a content index database orotherwise, elsewhere in the information management system 100 (e.g., inthe primary storage devices 104, or in the secondary storage device108). Such index data provides the storage manager 140 or anothercomponent with an efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112and/or secondary copies 116 of data objects that match particularcriteria.

For instance, search criteria can be specified by a user through userinterface 158 of the storage manager 140. In some cases, the informationmanagement system 100 analyzes data and/or metadata in secondary copies116 to create an “off-line” content index, without significantlyimpacting the performance of the client computing devices 102. Dependingon the embodiment, the system can also implement “on-line” contentindexing, e.g., of primary data 112. Examples of compatible contentindexing techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, which isincorporated by reference herein.

-   -   Classification Operations—Metabase

In order to help leverage the data stored in the information managementsystem 100, one or more components can be configured to scan data and/orassociated metadata for classification purposes to populate a metabaseof information. Such scanned, classified data and/or metadata may beincluded in a separate database and/or on a separate storage device fromprimary data 112 (and/or secondary copies 116), such that metabaserelated operations do not significantly impact performance on othercomponents in the information management system 100.

In other cases, the metabase(s) may be stored along with primary data112 and/or secondary copies 116. Files or other data objects can beassociated with user-specified identifiers (e.g., tag entries) in themedia agent 144 (or other indices) to facilitate searches of stored dataobjects. Among a number of other benefits, the metabase can also allowefficient, automatic identification of files or other data objects toassociate with secondary copy or other information management operations(e.g., in lieu of scanning an entire file system). Examples ofcompatible metabases and data classification operations are provided inU.S. Pat. Nos. 8,229,954 and 7,747,579, which are incorporated byreference herein.

-   -   Encryption Operations

The information management system 100 in some cases is configured toprocess data (e.g., files or other data objects, secondary copies 116,etc.), according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish,Advanced Encryption Standard [AES], Triple Data Encryption Standard[3-DES], etc.) to limit access and provide data security in theinformation management system 100.

The information management system 100 in some cases encrypts the data atthe client level, such that the client computing devices 102 (e.g., thedata agents 142) encrypt the data prior to forwarding the data to othercomponents, e.g., before sending the data media agents 144 during asecondary copy operation. In such cases, the client computing device 102may maintain or have access to an encryption key or passphrase fordecrypting the data upon restore. Encryption can also occur whencreating copies of secondary copies, e.g., when creating auxiliarycopies. In yet further embodiments, the secondary storage devices 108can implement built-in, high performance hardware encryption.

Management Operations

Certain embodiments leverage the integrated, ubiquitous nature of theinformation management system 100 to provide useful system-widemanagement functions. As two non-limiting examples, the informationmanagement system 100 can be configured to implement operationsmanagement and e-discovery functions.

Operations management can generally include monitoring and managing thehealth and performance of information management system 100 by, withoutlimitation, performing error tracking, generating granularstorage/performance metrics (e.g., job success/failure information,deduplication efficiency, etc.), generating storage modeling and costinginformation, and the like.

Such information can be provided to users via the user interface 158 ina single, integrated view. For instance, the integrated user interface158 can include an option to show a “virtual view” of the system thatgraphically depicts the various components in the system usingappropriate icons. The operations management functionality canfacilitate planning and decision-making. For example, in someembodiments, a user may view the status of some or all jobs as well asthe status of each component of the information management system 100.Users may then plan and make decisions based on this data. For instance,a user may view high-level information regarding storage operations forthe information management system 100, such as job status, componentstatus, resource status (e.g., network pathways, etc.), and otherinformation. The user may also drill down or use other means to obtainmore detailed information regarding a particular component, job, or thelike.

In some cases the information management system 100 alerts a user suchas a system administrator when a particular resource is unavailable orcongested. For example, a particular primary storage device 104 orsecondary storage device 108 might be full or require additionalcapacity. Or a component may be unavailable due to hardware failure,software problems, or other reasons. In response, the informationmanagement system 100 may suggest solutions to such problems when theyoccur (or provide a warning prior to occurrence). For example, thestorage manager 140 may alert the user that a secondary storage device108 is full or otherwise congested. The storage manager 140 may thensuggest, based on job and data storage information contained in itsdatabase 146, an alternate secondary storage device 108.

Other types of corrective actions may include suggesting an alternatedata path to a particular primary or secondary storage device 104, 108,or dividing data to be stored among various available primary orsecondary storage devices 104, 108 as a load balancing measure or tootherwise optimize storage or retrieval time. Such suggestions orcorrective actions may be performed automatically, if desired. Furtherexamples of some compatible operations management techniques and ofinterfaces providing an integrated view of an information managementsystem are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated byreference herein. In some embodiments, the storage manager 140implements the operations management functions described herein.

The information management system 100 can also be configured to performsystem-wide e-discovery operations in some embodiments. In general,e-discovery operations provide a unified collection and searchcapability for data in the system, such as data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies116). For example, the information management system 100 may constructand maintain a virtual repository for data stored in the informationmanagement system 100 that is integrated across source applications 110,different storage device types, etc. According to some embodiments,e-discovery utilizes other techniques described herein, such as dataclassification and/or content indexing.

Information Management Policies

As indicated previously, an information management policy 148 caninclude a data structure or other information source that specifies aset of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with secondarycopy or other information management operations.

One type of information management policy 148 is a storage policy.According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises alogical container that defines (or includes information sufficient todetermine) one or more of the following items: (1) what data will beassociated with the storage policy; (2) a destination to which the datawill be stored; (3) datapath information specifying how the data will becommunicated to the destination; (4) the type of storage operation to beperformed; and (5) retention information specifying how long the datawill be retained at the destination.

Data associated with a storage policy can be logically organized intogroups, which can be referred to as “sub-clients”. A sub-client mayrepresent static or dynamic associations of portions of a data volume.Sub-clients may represent mutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certainembodiments, a portion of data may be given a label and the associationis stored as a static entity in an index, database or other storagelocation.

Sub-clients may also be used as an effective administrative scheme oforganizing data according to data type, department within theenterprise, storage preferences, or the like. Depending on theconfiguration, sub-clients can correspond to files, folders, virtualmachines, databases, etc. In one exemplary scenario, an administratormay find it preferable to separate e-mail data from financial data usingtwo different sub-clients.

A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a targetor destination storage device (or group of storage devices). Forinstance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group ofdisk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the policy. As anotherexample, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or moretape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the storage policy, and mayalso specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tapedrives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing thesub-client data.

Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. Forinstance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and componentsto utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). Insome embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents144 for conveying data (e.g., one or more sub-clients) associated withthe storage policy between the source (e.g., one or more host clientcomputing devices 102) and destination (e.g., a particular targetsecondary storage device 108).

A storage policy can also specify the type(s) of operations associatedwith the storage policy, such as a backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliarycopy, or the like. Retention information can specify how long the datawill be kept, depending on organizational needs (e.g., a number of days,months, years, etc.)

The information management policies 148 may also include one or morescheduling policies specifying when and how often to perform operations.Scheduling information may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly,weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditionssecondary copy or other information management operations will takeplace. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particularcomponents, such as particular sub-clients, client computing device 102,and the like. In one configuration, a separate scheduling policy ismaintained for particular sub-clients on a client computing device 102.The scheduling policy specifies that those sub-clients are to be movedto secondary storage devices 108 every hour according to storagepolicies associated with the respective sub-clients.

When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators canmanually configure information management policies 148 and/or othersettings, e.g., via the user interface 158. However, this can be aninvolved process resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begindata protecting operations quickly.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100automatically applies a default configuration to client computing device102. As one example, when a data agent(s) 142 is installed on a clientcomputing devices 102, the installation script may register the clientcomputing device 102 with the storage manager 140, which in turn appliesthe default configuration to the new client computing device 102. Inthis manner, data protection operations can begin substantiallyimmediately. The default configuration can include a default storagepolicy, for example, and can specify any appropriate informationsufficient to begin data protection operations. This can include a typeof data protection operation, scheduling information, a target secondarystorage device 108, data path information (e.g., a particular mediaagent 144), and the like.

Other types of information management policies 148 are possible. Forinstance, the information management policies 148 can also include oneor more audit or security policies. An audit policy is a set ofpreferences, rules and/or criteria that protect sensitive data in theinformation management system 100. For example, an audit policy maydefine “sensitive objects” as files or objects that contain particularkeywords (e.g. “confidential,” or “privileged”) and/or are associatedwith particular keywords (e.g., in metadata) or particular flags (e.g.,in metadata identifying a document or email as personal, confidential,etc.).

An audit policy may further specify rules for handling sensitiveobjects. As an example, an audit policy may require that a reviewerapprove the transfer of any sensitive objects to a cloud storage site,and that if approval is denied for a particular sensitive object, thesensitive object should be transferred to a local storage device 104instead. To facilitate this approval, the audit policy may furtherspecify how a secondary storage computing device 106 or other systemcomponent should notify a reviewer that a sensitive object is slated fortransfer.

In some implementations, the information management policies 148 mayinclude one or more provisioning policies. A provisioning policy caninclude a set of preferences, priorities, rules, and/or criteria thatspecify how clients 102 (or groups thereof) may utilize systemresources, such as available storage on cloud storage and/or networkbandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies, for example, data quotas forparticular client computing devices 102 (e.g. a number of gigabytes thatcan be stored monthly, quarterly or annually). The storage manager 140or other components may enforce the provisioning policy. For instance,the media agents 144 may enforce the policy when transferring data tosecondary storage devices 108. If a client computing device 102 exceedsa quota, a budget for the client computing device 102 (or associateddepartment) is adjusted accordingly or an alert may trigger.

While the above types of information management policies 148 have beendescribed as separate policies, one or more of these can be generallycombined into a single information management policy 148. For instance,a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one ormore scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies. Moreover, whilestorage policies are typically associated with moving and storing data,other policies may be associated with other types of informationmanagement operations. The following is a non-exhaustive list of itemsthe information management policies 148 may specify:

-   -   schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when        and/or how often to perform information management operations;    -   the type of secondary copy 116 and/or secondary copy format        (e.g., snapshot, backup, archive, HSM, etc.);    -   a location or a class or quality of storage for storing        secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or more particular secondary        storage devices 108);    -   preferences regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress,        deduplicate, or otherwise modify or transform secondary copies        116;    -   which system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred        media agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage        operations;    -   resource allocation between different computing devices or other        system components used in performing information management        operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage        capacity, etc.);    -   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or        other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted        services; and    -   retention information specifying the length of time primary data        112 and/or secondary copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a        particular class or tier of storage devices, or within the        information management system 100.

Policies can additionally specify or depend on a variety of historicalor current criteria that may be used to determine which rules to applyto a particular data object, system component, or information managementoperation, such as:

-   -   frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of        a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,        accessed, or modified;    -   time-related factors (e.g., aging information such as time since        the creation or modification of a data object);    -   deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data blocks,        deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other        metrics);    -   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different        components (e.g., with secondary storage devices 108);    -   the identity of users, applications 110, client computing        devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,        accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or        secondary copies 116;    -   a relative sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality) of a data object,        e.g., as determined by its content and/or metadata;    -   the current or historical storage capacity of various storage        devices;    -   the current or historical network capacity of network pathways        connecting various components within the storage operation cell;    -   access control lists or other security information; and    -   the content of a particular data object (e.g., its textual        content) or of metadata associated with the data object.

Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Storage Operations

FIG. 1E shows a data flow data diagram depicting performance of storageoperations by an embodiment of an information management system 100,according to an exemplary data storage policy 148A. The informationmanagement system 100 includes a storage manger 140, a client computingdevice 102 having a file system data agent 142A and an email data agent142B residing thereon, a primary storage device 104, two media agents144A, 144B, and two secondary storage devices 108A, 108B: a disk library108A and a tape library 108B. As shown, the primary storage device 104includes primary data 112A, 112B associated with a file systemsub-client and an email sub-client, respectively.

As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and the tapelibrary 108B are “off-site”, and may therefore be remotely located fromthe other components in the information management system 100 (e.g., ina different city, office building, etc.). In this manner, informationstored on the tape library 108B may provide protection in the event of adisaster or other failure.

The file system sub-client and its associated primary data 112A incertain embodiments generally comprise information generated by the filesystem and/or operating system of the client computing device 102, andcan include, for example, file system data (e.g., regular files, filetables, mount points, etc.), operating system data (e.g., registries,event logs, etc.), and the like. The e-mail sub-client, on the otherhand, and its associated primary data 112B, include data generated by ane-mail client application operating on the client computing device 102,and can include mailbox information, folder information, emails,attachments, associated database information, and the like. As describedabove, the sub-clients can be logical containers, and the data includedin the corresponding primary data 112A, 112B may or may not be storedcontiguously.

The exemplary storage policy 148A includes a backup copy rule set 160, adisaster recovery copy rule set 162, and a compliance copy rule set 164.The backup copy rule set 160 specifies that it is associated with a filesystem sub-client 166 and an email sub-client 168. Each of thesesub-clients 166, 168 are associated with the particular client computingdevice 102. The backup copy rule set 160 further specifies that thebackup operation will be written to the disk library 108A, anddesignates a particular media agent 144A to convey the data to the disklibrary 108A. Finally, the backup copy rule set 160 specifies thatbackup copies created according to the rule set 160 are scheduled to begenerated on an hourly basis and to be retained for 30 days. In someother embodiments, scheduling information is not included in the storagepolicy 148A, and is instead specified by a separate scheduling policy.

The disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same twosub-clients 166, 168. However, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162is associated with the tape library 108B, unlike the backup copy ruleset 160. Moreover, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifiesthat a different media agent 144B than the media agent 144A associatedwith the backup copy rule set 160 will be used to convey the data to thetape library 108B. As indicated, disaster recovery copies createdaccording to the rule set 162 will be retained for 60 days, and will begenerated on a daily basis. Disaster recovery copies generated accordingto the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 can provide protection in theevent of a disaster or other data-loss event that would affect thebackup copy 116A maintained on the disk library 108A.

The compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the emailsub-client 166, and not the file system sub-client 168. Compliancecopies generated according to the compliance copy rule set 164 willtherefore not include primary data 112A from the file system sub-client166. For instance, the organization may be under an obligation to storemaintain copies of email data for a particular period of time (e.g., 10years) to comply with state or federal regulations, while similarregulations do not apply to the file system data. The compliance copyrule set 164 is associated with the same tape library 108B and mediaagent 144B as the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, although adifferent storage device or media agent could be used in otherembodiments. Finally, the compliance copy rule set 164 specifies thatcopies generated under the compliance copy rule set 164 will be retainedfor 10 years, and will be generated on a quarterly basis.

At step 1, the storage manager 140 initiates a backup operationaccording to the backup copy rule set 160. For instance, a schedulingservice running on the storage manager 140 accesses schedulinginformation from the backup copy rule set 160 or a separate schedulingpolicy associated with the client computing device 102, and initiates abackup copy operation on an hourly basis. Thus, at the scheduled timeslot the storage manager 140 sends instructions to the client computingdevice 102 to begin the backup operation.

At step 2, the file system data agent 142A and the email data agent 142Bresiding on the client computing device 102 respond to the instructionsreceived from the storage manager 140 by accessing and processing theprimary data 112A, 112B involved in the copy operation from the primarystorage device 104. Because the operation is a backup copy operation,the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the data into a backup format orotherwise process the data.

At step 3, the client computing device 102 communicates the retrieved,processed data to the first media agent 144A, as directed by the storagemanager 140, according to the backup copy rule set 160. In some otherembodiments, the information management system 100 may implement aload-balancing, availability-based, or other appropriate algorithm toselect from the available set of media agents 144A, 144B. Regardless ofthe manner the media agent 144A is selected, the storage manager 140 mayfurther keep a record in the storage manager database 140 of theassociation between the selected media agent 144A and the clientcomputing device 102 and/or between the selected media agent 144A andthe backup copy 116A.

The target media agent 144A receives the data from the client computingdevice 102, and at step 4 conveys the data to the disk library 108A tocreate the backup copy 116A, again at the direction of the storagemanager 140 and according to the backup copy rule set 160. The secondarystorage device 108A can be selected in other ways. For instance, themedia agent 144A may have a dedicated association with a particularsecondary storage device(s), or the storage manager 140 or media agent144A may select from a plurality of secondary storage devices, e.g.,according to availability, using one of the techniques described in U.S.Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by reference herein.

The media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to include dataand/or metadata related to the backup copy 116A, such as informationindicating where the backup copy 116A resides on the disk library 108A,data and metadata for cache retrieval, etc. After the 30-day retentionperiod expires, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144Ato delete the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 5, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of a disasterrecovery copy 116B according to the disaster recovery copy rule set 162.For instance, at step 6, based on instructions received from the storagemanager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 144B retrieves the mostrecent backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 7, again at the direction of the storage manager 140 and asspecified in the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, the media agent144B uses the retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 116B onthe tape library 108B. In some cases, the disaster recovery copy 116B isa direct, mirror copy of the backup copy 116A, and remains in the backupformat. In other embodiments, the disaster recovery copy 116C may begenerated in some other manner, such as by using the primary data 112A,112B from the storage device 104 as source data. The disaster recoverycopy operation is initiated once a day and the disaster recovery copies116A are deleted after 60 days.

At step 8, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of acompliance copy 116C, according to the compliance copy rule set 164. Forinstance, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144B tocreate the compliance copy 116C on the tape library 108B at step 9, asspecified in the compliance copy rule set 164. In the example, thecompliance copy 116C is generated using the disaster recovery copy 116B.In other embodiments, the compliance copy 116C is instead generatedusing either the primary data 112B corresponding to the email sub-clientor using the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A as source data.As specified, compliance copies 116C are created quarterly, and aredeleted after ten years.

While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a restoreoperation can be initiated involving one or more of the secondary copies116A, 116B, 116C. As one example, a user may manually initiate a restoreof the backup copy 116A by interacting with the user interface 158 ofthe storage manager 140. The storage manager 140 then accesses data inits index 150 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associatedwith the selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate mediaagent 144A and/or secondary storage device 116A.

In other cases, a media agent may be selected for use in the restoreoperation based on a load balancing algorithm, an availability basedalgorithm, or other criteria. The selected media agent 144A retrievesthe data from the disk library 108A. For instance, the media agent 144Amay access its index 153 to identify a location of the backup copy 116Aon the disk library 108A, or may access location information residing onthe disk 108A itself.

When the backup copy 116A was recently created or accessed, the mediaagent 144A accesses a cached version of the backup copy 116A residing inthe media agent index 153, without having to access the disk library108A for some or all of the data. Once it has retrieved the backup copy116A, the media agent 144A communicates the data to the source clientcomputing device 102. Upon receipt, the file system data agent 142A andthe email data agent 142B may unpackage (e.g., restore from a backupformat to the native application format) the data in the backup copy116A and restore the unpackaged data to the primary storage device 104.

Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting

The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary, dependingon the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted asa series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication andwriting to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resourceavailability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written ona chunk-by-chunk basis to a single secondary storage device 108 oracross multiple secondary storage devices 108. In some cases, users canselect different chunk sizes, e.g., to improve throughput to tapestorage devices.

Generally, each chunk can include a header and a payload. The payloadcan include files (or other data units) or subsets thereof included inthe chunk, whereas the chunk header generally includes metadata relatingto the chunk, some or all of which may be derived from the payload. Forexample, during a secondary copy operation, the media agent 144, storagemanager 140, or other component may divide the associated files intochunks and generate headers for each chunk by processing the constituentfiles.

The headers can include a variety of information such as fileidentifier(s), volume(s), offset(s), or other information associatedwith the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc. Importantly,in addition to being stored with the secondary copy 116 on the secondarystorage device 108, the chunk headers can also be stored to the index153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or the storage managerindex 150. This is useful in some cases for providing faster processingof secondary copies 116 during restores or other operations. In somecases, once a chunk is successfully transferred to a secondary storagedevice 108, the secondary storage device 108 returns an indication ofreceipt, e.g., to the media agent 144 and/or storage manager 140, whichmay update their respective indexes 150, 153 accordingly.

During restore, chunks may be processed (e.g., by the media agent 144)according to the information in the chunk header to reassemble thefiles. Additional information relating to chunks can be found in U.S.Pat. No. 8,156,086, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Example Client Computing Environment

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a client computingenvironment 200 including a client computing device 102 and a primarystorage device 104. As previously described, for example with respect toFIG. 1C, the client computing device 102 may include one or moreapplications 110 and one or more data agents 142. At least some of thedata agents 142 may correspond to one or more of the applications 110and, as previously described, may facilitate data operations withrespect to the corresponding application(s). Further, one or more of thedata agents 142 may facilitate managing and/or interacting with a filesystem 202 of the client computing device 102. This file system 202 mayinclude any type of file system that can be used by a client computingdevice 102. For example, the file system 202 may include a MicrosoftWindows file system (e.g., FAT, NTFS, etc.), a Linux based file system,a Unix based file system, an Apple Macintosh file system (e.g., HFSPlus), and the like. In some instances, the client computing device 102may include multiple file systems 202 of the same type or of a differenttype.

In addition to the previously described systems, the client computingdevice 102 may include a filter driver 204 that can interact with data(e.g., production data) associated with the applications 110. Forinstance, the filter driver 204 may comprise a file system filterdriver, an operating system driver, a filtering program, a data trappingprogram, an application, a module of one or more of the applications110, an application programming interface (“API”), or other likesoftware module or process that, among other things, monitors and/orintercepts particular application requests targeted at a file system,another file system filter driver, a network attached storage (“NAS”), astorage area network (“SAN”), mass storage and/or other memory or rawdata. In some embodiments, the filter driver 204 may reside in the I/Ostack of an application 110 and may intercept, analyze and/or copycertain data traveling to or from the application 110 from or to a filesystem.

In certain embodiments, the filter driver 204 may intercept datamodification operations that include changes, updates and newinformation (e.g., data writes) with respect to the application(s) 110of interest. For example, the filter driver 204 may locate, monitorand/or process one or more of the following with respect to a particularapplication 110, application type, or group of applications: datamanagement operations (e.g., data write operations, file attributemodifications), logs or journals (e.g., NTFS change journal),configuration files, file settings, control files, other files used bythe application 110, combinations of the same or the like. In certainembodiments, such data may also be gathered from files across multiplestorage systems within the client computing device 102. Furthermore, thefilter driver 204 may be configured to monitor changes to particularfiles, such as files identified as being associated with data of theapplications 110.

In certain embodiments, multiple filter drivers 204 may be deployed on acomputing system, each filter driver being dedicated to data of aparticular application 110. In such embodiments, not all informationassociated with the client computing system 102 may be captured by thefilter drivers 204 and thus, the impact on system performance may bereduced. In other embodiments, the filter driver 204 may be suitable foruse with multiple application types and/or may be adaptable orconfigurable for use with multiple applications 110. For example, one ormore instances of customized or particularizing filtering programs maybe instantiated based on application specifics or other needs orpreferences.

The filter driver 204 may include a number of modules or subsystems thatcan facilitate performing various operations with respect to theapplications 110 and/or file system 202. For example, the filter driver204 may include a number of modules or subsystems to facilitateencrypting data and/or files. As a second example, the filter driver 204may include modules or subsystems to facilitate presenting encryptedfiles to an authorized user. In certain embodiments, the modules orsubsystems of the filter driver 204 can include one or more of thefollowing: an interface agent 220, an encryption module 222, a securefile access module 224, an encryption rules engine 226, a decryptionmodule 228, and a file monitor 230.

Using the file monitor 230, the filter driver 204 can monitor a user'sinteraction with a file. This interaction can include accessing the filevia the file system 202, one or more applications 110, one or more dataagents 142, or through any other method of accessing or interacting witha file. In some cases, the file monitor 230 may be configured toidentify when a file is modified and/or created. Monitoring the creationof a file can include identifying a “new” file operation, a “save as”operation, a “copy” operation, or any other operation that can result ina new file or a new copy of an existing file.

The encryption rules engine 226 can include any system configured todetermine whether a file is to be encrypted. Generally, the file monitor230 is configured to trigger the encryption rules engine 226 determiningwhether a file is to be encrypted. For example, the encryption rulesengine 226 may determine whether to encrypt a file in response to thefile monitor 230 detecting a write access to the file, or a filecreation operation (e.g., a “new” operation, a “save as” operation,etc.) that results in the creation of the file. Alternatively, theencryption rules engine 226 may determine whether a file is to beencrypted each time the file is accessed regardless of the type of fileaccess. In other cases, the encryption rules engine 226 may determinewhether a file should be encrypted in response to a command receivedfrom another system, such as a data agent 142 or the storage manager140.

Determining whether to encrypt a file can be based on a set ofencryption rules. In some instances, these encryption rules may beincluded with the encryption rules engine 226. Alternatively, or inaddition, the encryption rules may be stored at an encryption rulesrepository 208 that is accessible by the filter driver 204 and/or theencryption rules engine 226 of the filter driver 204. The encryptionrules can include any rule for determining whether a file is to beencrypted. These encryption rules may be based on one or more usersand/or pieces of metadata associated with the file.

For example, an encryption rule may be based on one or more of thefollowing: the author of a file, the owner of a file, the editor of afile, the type of file, the location of the file, the name of the file,the age of the file, a tag associated with the file, whether the fileand/or a version of the file was previously encrypted, keywordsassociated with the file name and/or the contents of the file, and thelike. Unless stated otherwise, the phrase “a version of the file” asused herein generally refers to the file and/or a copy of the file thatincludes different content than the file currently being evaluated(e.g., an older copy of the file, a pre-edited version of a file, etc.).

In some cases, the characteristics of a file used to determine whetherto encrypt a file may be weighted. For example, the type of the file maybe weighted such that it has a greater affect in determining whether toencrypt a file than the author of the file.

Once the encryption rules engine 226 determines that a file should beencrypted, the encryption module 222 can encrypt the file using anencryption algorithm. In some cases, the encryption algorithm may bespecified as part of an encryption rule. Once the file has beenencrypted, the encryption module 222 may delete any unencrypted copiesof the file located on the client computing device 102 and/or theprimary storage device 104. Further, in some cases, the encryptionmodule 222 may cause a cached copy of the file to be locked orinaccessible to prevent access to unencrypted copies or fragments of afile that has been identified for encryption by the encryption rulesengine 226.

As stated above, the filter driver 204 may include an interface agent220. The interface agent 220 may be configured to control how files, orreferences to files (e.g., file names, file icons, etc.), are displayedto a user. In some cases, the interface agent 220 can control how filesare displayed in a variety of display locations, such as in a window, ina listing of files, on a desktop display, in an application window orviewer, etc.

Further, in some cases, the interface agent 220 may be configured topresent encrypted files as if the files were unencrypted. Further, theinterface agent 220 may be configured to present files differently basedon the user accessing the client computing device 102 as determined by auser identifier and/or authentication information obtained via anauthentication system 206. For example, an administrator may see theencryption status of a file via an annotation on an icon or a specialfile extension. However, the interface agent 220 may cause all files toappear as unencrypted files to a non-administrator user. Further, theinterface agent 220 may cause at least some encrypted files to be hiddenfrom view altogether for a user who does not have authorization todecrypt the hidden encrypted files.

When a user and/or application 110 attempts to access a file, the securefile access module 224 can determine whether the file is an encryptedfile based on, for example, the file name. If the file is not encrypted,the file access operation is provided to the file system 202 forprocessing. If the file is encrypted, the secure file access module 224can determine whether to decrypt the file based on, for example,authentication information associated with the user.

Generally, the secure file access module 224 can access theauthentication information that the authentication system 206 obtainedwhen the user logged in to the client computing device 102.Advantageously, in certain embodiments, by using the authenticationinformation provided at login, the request to access a file can beprocessed without the user being prompted with a request forauthentication at the time the file is accessed. Thus, in some cases,the file access request may be processed without the user being madeaware of the encryption status of the file.

In cases where the secure file access module 224 determines that a fileis encrypted and that a user and/or application 110 is authorized toaccess the file, the secure file access module 224 can provide theencrypted file to a decryption module 228. The decryption module 228 candecrypt the file and provide the file to the application 110 for use orpresentation to a user. In some cases, as will be described in moredetail below, the decryption module 228 can determine the type ofencryption used to encrypt the file and select a correspondingdecryption algorithm to decrypt the file. Further, in cases where anasymmetric key was used to encrypt the file, the decryption module 228can identify a public key corresponding to the private key used toencrypt the file. The decryption module 228 can then use the public keyto decrypt the file.

As indicated above, the primary storage device 104 can store theunencrypted files. Further, the primary storage device 104 can alsostore encrypted files, which may be encrypted by the encryption module222 or otherwise. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the primary storage device104 can include an unencrypted files repository 210 configured to storeunencrypted files and an encrypted files repository 212 configured tostore encrypted files.

Although encrypted files and unencrypted files may be stored indifferent repositories of the primary storage device 104, the encryptedand unencrypted files may be presented to a user without differentiatingbetween the encryption status of the files and the storage location ofthe file in the primary storage device 104. Alternatively, the encryptedfiles may be presented to a user in a separate location of a filestorage display and/or with an indication of the encryption status ofthe file. Further, in some cases, the primary storage device 104 may bedivided into a fewer or greater number of repositories, which may or maynot be divided based on the encryption status of files stored by theprimary storage device 104.

Generally, although not necessarily, a client computing device 102includes an authentication system 206. This authentication system 206can be configured to authenticate a user attempting to use the clientcomputing device 102 and/or attempting to access files stored on theprimary storage device 104. Further, in some cases, the authenticationsystem 206 can provide authentication information to the secure fileaccess module 224 to facilitate determining whether a user is authorizedto access an encrypted file. In certain embodiments, the authenticationsystem 206 may obtain additional authentication information from a userwhen the user attempts to access an encrypted file. This information canthen be provided to the secure file access module 224. In otherembodiments, the authentication system 206 provides previously obtainedauthentication information to the secure access module 224 and does notprompt a user for additional information when the user attempts toaccess an encrypted file.

Example of an Encryption Determination Process

FIG. 3 illustrates an example embodiment of an encryption determinationprocess 300. The process 300 can be implemented, at least in part, byany system that can detect when a file is created or modified and candetermine whether to encrypt the file based on a set of encryptionrules. For example, the process 300, in whole or in part, can beimplemented by the filter driver 204, the file monitor 230, theencryption rules engine 226, and the encryption module 222, to name afew. Although any number of systems, in whole or in part, can implementthe process 300, to simplify discussion, portions of the process 300will be described with reference to particular systems.

The process 300 begins at block 302 where, for example, the file monitor230 monitors file access operations to detect file write operations.Typically, the file monitor 230 is monitoring file access operations forfiles stored at the primary storage device 104. However, in some cases,the file monitor 230 may monitor file access operations for files storedelsewhere, such as on a portable storage device (e.g., a USB key, anexternal disk drive, etc.). In some cases, the file write operations caninclude write commands, file create commands, file copy commands, or anycommands or operations that can result in a file being modified orcreated, or that indicate that a file is being modified or created. Forexample, the file monitor 230 may detect a “New” command, a “Save”command, a “Save As” command, a “Copy” command, or any operationsrelated to such commands. At decision block 304, the file monitor 230determines whether a file write, or file creation, operation is detectedwith respect to a file. If not, the file monitor 230 continues tomonitor operations at the block 302.

Generally, the operations monitored are commands received from theapplications 110 and/or the data agents 142. However, in some cases, thefile monitor 230 can monitor commands or operations received from anysource that can access a file. For example, in some cases, commands maybe received from a processor or an application-specific processor (notshown) that is included as part of the client computing device 110. As asecond example, commands may be received from the storage manager 140 ora media agent 144.

At block 306, the encryption rules engine 226 accesses metadata, or filemetadata, associated with the file. Alternatively, the file monitor 230may access the metadata. In some cases, some of the metadata may beaccessed and/or determined by the file monitor 230 and some of themetadata may be accessed and/or determined by the encryption rulesengine 226. The metadata can include any type of data associated withthe file, including data associated with users associated with the file.Further, the metadata can include any type of data related to the filethat can be the basis, at least in part, of an encryption rule fordetermining whether to encrypt the file.

For example, the metadata can include: the name of the file, the filetype of the file (e.g., a word processing file, a spreadsheet, a PDFfile, a CAD file, an audio file, a video file, etc.), an author of thefile, users who have authorization to access the file, one or moreapplications capable of reading or accessing the file (e.g., MicrosoftWord, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat, Corel WinDVD, etc.), the locationof the file within a file organization structure, the time the file wascreated, the time the file was last modified and/or accessed, the sizeof the file, and the like. In some cases, the metadata can include adesignation and/or tag associated with the file. For example, anencryption determination may be made based on whether a user orapplication designated a file or set of files for encryption, eitherthrough explicit designation or by inclusion in a location (e.g.,directory) that has been designated for encryption. As a second example,files that are designated for backup or for backup to a particularlocation or media may be designated for encryption.

The encryption rules engine 226 accesses one or more encryption rules atblock 308 for determining whether to encrypt the file associated withthe file write detected at the decision block 304. In some cases, theencryption rules are accessed from the encryption rules repository 208.In other cases, the encryption rules are included as part of the filterdriver 204. Whether included with the filter driver, or stored at theencryption rules repository 208, the encryption rules may be provided bythe storage manager 140, a user (e.g., an administrator), a provider ofthe filter driver 204, or any other user or entity that can provideencryption rules.

As described above, the encryption rules can include any rule fordetermining whether a file is to be encrypted. Typically, the encryptionrules are based on the metadata associated with the file that theencryption rules engine 226 is analyzing to make an encryptiondetermination. However, in some cases, the encryption rules may be basedon alternative or additional factors, such as a user associated with theclient computing device 102, the role of the client computing device102, a location of the client computing device 102, and the like.

At decision block 310, the encryption rules engine 226 determineswhether the file metadata, or at least a subset of the metadata,satisfies one or more of the encryption rules. In some cases, decisionblock 310 includes determining whether the alternative or additionalfactors described above satisfy one or more of the encryption rules. Ifthe file metadata does not satisfy any of the encryption rules, the filewrite, and/or file creation, operation is allowed to proceed at block312. In other words, the operation may be performed as if the filterdriver 204 were not present or as if the blocks 302-310 were notperformed. In some cases, the block 312 may include storing anunencrypted version of a previously encrypted file if the filepreviously satisfied an encryption rule, but no longer satisfies anencryption rule. In certain embodiments, the block 312 can includeinforming a user that an encryption rule is not satisfied and maypresent the user with an option to encrypt the file despite the file notsatisfying one of the encryption rules.

If the encryption rules engine 226 determines that the file metadatadoes satisfy at least one of the encryption rules as the decision block310, the filter driver 204 locks one or more cache copies of the file atblock 314. Advantageously, in some embodiments, by locking cache copiesof the file, users and/or applications are unable to access unencryptedversions or copies of the file. In some embodiments, the block 314 isoptional.

At block 316, the encryption module 222 encrypts the file. In somecases, the encryption module 222 uses the same encryption algorithm toencrypt the file regardless of the encryption rule satisfied by themetadata and/or the file to be encrypted. In other cases, the encryptionmodule 222 selects an encryption algorithm based on the encryption rulesatisfied and/or the file to be encrypted. If multiple encryption rulesare satisfied, the encryption module 222 may select the encryptionalgorithm based on a preference, weighting, ranking, or other factorassociated with the satisfied encryption rules. In some embodiments, theblock 316 includes deleting or rendering inaccessible unencryptedversions or copies of the file.

In some cases, the block 316 can include modifying an extension of thefile or appending an addition extension to the file to indicate theencryption status of the file. For example, the encryption module 222may change a file extension to .CVX to indicate the file is encrypted.Thus, in some cases, an encrypted PDF file X may be renamed from X.pdfto X.cvx. Alternatively, the encryption module 222 may append anencryption extension (e.g., .CVX) indicating the encryption status ofthe file after the file's unencrypted extension. Thus, in some cases, anencrypted PDF file Y may be renamed from Y.pdf to Y.pdf.cvx. Theencrypted file may be stored at the location indicated by the commanddetected at the decision block 304. Alternatively, the encrypted filemay be stored at an alternate location. This alternative location may bedesignated for encrypted files and/or may be designated by theencryption rule satisfied by the file.

The encryption module 222 stores metadata associated with the encryptionstatus of the file at block 318. The metadata may be stored with theencrypted file or at another location. For example, the metadata may bestored at the primary storage device 104, with the file or in anotherlocation, and/or the metadata may be stored at the storage manager 140.The metadata can include information related to the encryption of thefile. For example, the metadata can include the encryption status of thefile, an identification of the encryption rule satisfied, anidentification of the encryption algorithm used to encrypt the file, andthe like. In some embodiments, the block 318 is optional.

Example of an Encrypted File Display Process

FIG. 4 illustrates an example embodiment of an encrypted file displayprocess 400. The process 400 can be implemented, at least in part, byany system that can cause a reference or link to a file to be presentedto a user. Further, the process 400 can be implemented by any systemthat can cause the reference or link to the file to be presented as areference or link to an unencrypted file regardless of the encryptionstatus of the file. For example, the process 400, in whole or in part,can be implemented by the filter driver 204, the interface agent 220,and the secure file access module 224, to name a few. Although anynumber of systems, in whole or in part, can implement the process 400,to simplify discussion, portions of the process 400 will be describedwith reference to particular systems.

The process 400 begins at block 402 where, for example, the interfaceagent 220 accesses an encrypted file. In some cases, the interface agent220 may receive the encrypted file from the file system 202, anapplication 110, the primary storage device 104, a cache (not shown), aprocessor (not shown), or any other source that can provide theencrypted file to the interface agent 220. Alternatively, the interfaceagent 220 may scan a storage location (e.g., the primary storage device104) to identify encrypted files at the block 402. In some embodiments,the process 400 may occur as part of an encryption process, such as theprocess 300. In such embodiments, the process 400, in whole or in part,may occur as part of the block 316 or subsequent to the block 316.

At block 404, the interface agent 220 identifies the file type of apre-encrypted version or copy of the encrypted file. In other words, theinterface agent 220 identifies the file type of the file (e.g., PDFfile, spreadsheet file, word processing file, video file, audio file,image file, etc.) before the file was encrypted. The interface agent 220may determine the file type based on a reference to the file. Thisreference generally refers to what is displayed to the user to identifythe file or the existence of the file to the user. For example, thereference can include the name of the file, a file extension of thefile, a link to the file, or an image or icon associated with the file,to name a few. Generally, but not necessarily, the file extension of theencrypted file differs from the file extension of the unencrypted file.Further, in some cases, the interface agent 220 may identify the filetype based on metadata associated with the pre-encrypted file and/or theencrypted file.

The interface agent 220 identifies one or more application programsassociated with the pre-encrypted version of the file at block 406. Byidentifying the application programs associated with the pre-encryptedversion of the file, the interface agent 220 can, in some cases, causethe encrypted file to be associated with the same application programs.Further, the interface agent 220 can, in some cases, cause a referenceto the encrypted file to include an icon or other identifyinginformation that informs the user that the encrypted file is associatedwith an application that typically can access the non-encrypted versionof the file.

With many proprietary file formats or types, there may exist only asingle application associated with the file. However, in some cases(e.g., PDF files), multiple applications may be capable of accessing aparticular file type and thus multiple applications may be associatedwith the pre-encrypted version of the file. In some cases, there may notexist an application associated with the file. For example, theapplication that created the file may have been removed from the clientcomputing device 102, or the file may have been created on anothercomputing device and then provided to the client computing device 102.In such cases, the interface agent 220 may still determine anapplication capable of accessing the pre-encrypted file based onmetadata associated with the file and/or based on information availableon a network. In other cases, the interface agent 220 may identify thefile as being associated with an unknown file type. In some embodiments,the block 406 is optional.

At block 408, the interface agent 220 displays, or causes a displayscreen to display, a reference to the encrypted file that appears as ifit were the reference to the unencrypted file. In other words, thereference to the encrypted file mimics, at least in part, a reference tothe unencrypted file. Thus, in some cases, the reference to theencrypted file may have the same file name, file extension, icon orother file reference characteristic as a reference to the unencryptedfile. Further, as described in more detail below, at least some of themetadata associated with the encrypted file may match at least some ofthe metadata associated with the unencrypted file thereby, in somecases, preventing a user and/or application from using the metadata todetermine whether a file is encrypted.

Advantageously, in some embodiments, by displaying the reference to theencrypted file as if it were a reference to the unencrypted file, thefile can be organized by the file system 202 and identified by a userwith the same ease as if the file were not encrypted. In some cases, theuser may not know whether the file is encrypted and can organize andaccess the file without knowing the encryption status of the file.Further, in some instances, the reference to the encrypted file may bebased on a reference to the unencrypted file, but may or may not mimicthe reference to the unencrypted file.

Moreover, the reference to the encrypted file may be similar, but notidentical to a reference to the unencrypted file. For example, thereference to the encrypted file may include an annotation, such as amark on the icon of the encrypted file that indicates the encryptionstatus of the file. This annotation of the icon can inform the user thatthe file is an encrypted version of the unencrypted file. In othercases, the icon of the encrypted file may be identical to the icon ofthe unencrypted file, but the file extension may differ. Advantageously,in some embodiments, by non-identically mimicking the reference to theunencrypted file, encrypted and unencrypted files can be organizedtogether, but still be distinguishable. Further, the file types of theencrypted files can be identified as easily as if the files wereunencrypted files while maintaining the ability for the user todistinguish between encrypted and unencrypted files by, for example,glancing at a reference to the file (e.g., the file icon or file name).

As previously described, in some implementations, the file extension ofthe encrypted file may differ from the file extension of the unencryptedfile. For example, a .CVX extension may be appended to an existing fileextension. In some such cases, the added or modified extension of theencrypted file may be hidden from view by default thereby, in somecases, displaying the original file extension or no file extension tothe user.

Example of an Encrypted File Access Process

FIG. 5 illustrates an example embodiment of an encrypted file accessprocess 500. The process 500 can be implemented, at least in part, byany system that can provide a user and/or application with access to afile that has been encrypted using an encryption process, such as theprocess 300. For example, the process 500, in whole or in part, can beimplemented by the filter driver 204, the interface agent 220, thesecure file access module 224, the decryption module 228, and theauthentication system 206, to name a few. Although any number ofsystems, in whole or in part, can implement the process 500, to simplifydiscussion, portions of the process 500 will be described with referenceto particular systems.

The process 500 begins at block 502 where, for example, theauthentication system 206 authenticates a user. The block 502 may beperformed in response to the user attempting to access the clientcomputing device 102 (e.g., at login), access an encrypted file, or insome cases, in response to both an attempt to access the clientcomputing device 102 and an attempt to access an encrypted file. Incertain embodiments, the block 502 is optional.

At block 504, the secure file access module 224 receives a request toaccess a file stored in the primary storage device 104. Generally, therequest is sent by a user of the client computing device 102 or anapplication 110 to the file system 202 and is intercepted by the filterdriver 204, which provides the request to the secure access module 224.However, in some cases, the request to access the file may be addressedto the filter driver 204. In some embodiments, the request to access thefile may be received from a remote system. For example, the request toaccess the file may be received from another client computing device,from a mobile device, from a server, or from any other computing devicethat can request file access on behalf of a user or application.

The secure file access module 224 determines the encryption status ofthe file at block 506. Determining the encryption status of the file caninclude examining the file extension of the file, the icon associatedwith the file, metadata associated with the file, the storage locationof the file, a table that identifies encrypted files and/or theencryption status of files, and any other data or source that can beused to determine the encryption status of the file. At decision block508, the secure file access module 224 determines whether the encryptionstatus of the file indicates that the file is encrypted. If not, thesecure file access module 224 at block 510 grants file access to theuser, or application 110, that provided the request to access the fileat the block 504. In some cases, granting access to the file involvesthe secure file access module 224 allowing the file access request toproceed. In other words, the file access request of the block 504 may beperformed as if the filter driver 204 were not present.

In some embodiments, the block 510 may include additional operations.For example, the block 510 may include logging access to the file ornotifying a user (e.g., an administrator) that the file was accessed.

If the secure file access module 224 determines that the file isencrypted at decision block 508, the authentication system 206authenticates the user at block 512. Authenticating the user can includedetermining whether the user is authorized to access the encrypted file.In some embodiments, the secure file access module uses authenticationinformation obtained at the block 502 to identify the user. Theauthentication information can then be used to determine whether theuser is authorized to access the file without obtaining additionalinformation from the user. Advantageously, in some cases, by usinginformation obtained at the block 502 in place of requestingauthentication information at the block 512, a user can access a filewithout being aware of whether the file is encrypted.

In some cases, the secure file access module 224 can determine the filesthe user is authorized to access, encrypted or not, when the user isauthenticated at the block 502. In such cases, the block 512 isunnecessary. Thus, in some embodiments, the block 512 is optional. Inother embodiments, the block 502 may be optional, and the secure fileaccess module may determine whether the user is authorized to access afile by, in part, using the authentication system 206 to authenticatethe user at the block 512.

In certain embodiments, the secure file access module 224 may accessmetadata and/or access control information associated with a user todetermine whether the user is authorized to access the encrypted file.This metadata and/or access control information may be stored at theprimary storage device 104, on a device on the network, in a securestorage location associated with the client computing device 102, on asmartcard or other personal security device associated with the user, orat any other location that can be used to store authorizationinformation associated with a user.

At block 514, assuming that it is determined that the user is authorizedto access the encrypted file, the decryption module 228 decrypts theencrypted file. Decrypting the file can include identifying the type ofencryption used to encrypt the file and determining a correspondingdecryption algorithm. The decryption module 228 can determine the typeof encryption used based on a variety of factors including, for example,metadata associated with the file, metadata associated with the user, asource of the file, a type of the file, a header associated with thefile, a storage location of the file, etc. In some cases, decrypting thefile may include identifying a public key to decrypt the file when thefile was encrypted with a corresponding private key.

If the user was not successfully authenticated, or was not authorized toaccess the file, the request to access the file is rejected. Rejectingaccess to the file can include logging the attempted file access and/oralerting another user (e.g., an administrator) regarding the attemptedfile access.

At block 516, the secure file access module 224 provides the user and/orapplication 110 with access to the decrypted file. In some cases,providing access to the decrypted file can include sending the decryptedfile over a network to a remote device. Assuming the file was notmodified, the filter driver may delete the decrypted file upon detectingthe user and/or application 110 has finished accessing the file (e.g.,upon detection of a “file close” command). If the file is modified, theprocess 300 may in some cases be initiated.

Example of a File Backup Process

FIG. 6 illustrates an example embodiment of a file backup process 600.The process 600 can be implemented, at least in part, by any system thatcan backup a file to a secondary storage device 108. For example, theprocess 600, in whole or in part, can be implemented by the storagemanager 140, a data agent 142, a secondary storage computing device 106,and a media agent 144, to name a few. Although any number of systems, inwhole or in part, can implement the process 600, to simplify discussion,portions of the process 600 will be described with reference toparticular systems.

The process 600 begins at block 602 where, for example, a data agent 142associated with an application 110 identifies a file accessible by theapplication 110 for backup on a secondary storage device 108. In somecases, the data agent 142 performs the block 602 in accordance with abackup policy provided or established by the storage manager 140.Alternatively, the storage manager 140 may perform the block 602. Inanother alternative, the storage manager 140 may initiate the process600 by providing a backup command to the data agent 142, which may ormay not identify the file for backup. In other cases, a user mayidentify the file for backup on the secondary storage device 108. Theprocess 600 may be initiated as part of a scheduled or automatic backupprocess, or may be initiated manually (e.g., in response to a usercommand).

At block 604, the data agent 142 accesses the file identified at theblock 602 from the primary storage 104. The data agent 142 can providethe file to a secondary storage computing device 106 associated with amedia agent 144. Alternatively, the data agent 142 may provide the fileto the storage manager 140, which can then provide the file to thesecondary storage computing device 106. In some embodiments, the dataagent 142 makes the file available to the secondary storage computingdevice 106. The media agent 144 of the secondary storage computingdevice 106 can then access the client computing device 102 to obtain thefile. Generally, regardless of how the file is provided, providing thefile to the secondary storage computing device 106 involves providing acopy of the file to the secondary storage computing device 106. Thus,the copy of the file may remain on the primary storage device 104.

However, in some cases, providing the file to the secondary storagecomputing device 106 involves providing the file itself to the secondarystorage computing device 106. Thus, in some cases, a copy of the filemay no longer exist on the primary storage device 104 after the backupprocess is complete. For example, during an archiving process, the fileor a copy of the file may be provided to the secondary storage computingdevice 106 and may be removed from the primary storage device 104. Whenthe file is restored from secondary storage, the file may be decryptedand stored on the primary storage device 104 as described in more detailbelow. However, typically, at least a copy of the file will exist onboth the primary storage device 104 and a secondary storage device 108during performance of and/or subsequent to completion of the process600. In some cases, an archived copy of the file may remain on theprimary storage device 104.

The media agent 144 determines at decision block 606 whether the file isencrypted. This determination may be based on one or more factorsincluding the file itself and/or metadata associated with the file. Forexample, the media agent 144 may examine the file name, the data storedin the file, a tag associated with the file, or any other informationthat can be used to determine the encryption status of a file. In somecases, the encryption status of the file is provided to the media agent144 by another system (e.g., the data agent 142 or the storage manager140).

In addition to determining whether the file is encrypted, the mediaagent 144, at decision block 606, may in some cases identify the systemthat encrypted the file. For example, the media agent 144 may determinewhether the file was encrypted by the client computing device 102 (e.g.,by the encryption module 222), by another computing device includedwithin the information management system 100, or by a computing systemthat is external to the information management system 100. In someembodiments, the media agent 144 may treat files that were encrypted byparticular computing systems, or files that were not encrypted byparticular computer systems as unencrypted files with respect to theprocess 600. In other words, in some cases, the media agent 144 mayre-encrypt, or encrypt a second time, or cause files to be re-encryptedthat are already encrypted based on the computing system that initiallyencrypted the file.

If the media agent 144 determines at the decision block 606 that thefile is encrypted, the media agent 144 stores the file on a secondarystorage device 108 without performing an encryption process at block608. If multiple secondary storage devices 108 exist, the media agent144 may store the file on the secondary storage device 108 specified bythe storage manager 140. Alternatively, the media agent 144 selects thesecondary storage device 108 to store the file based on one or morestorage device selection rules. These rules may be based on the type offile, the source of the file, a user associated with the file, a dataagent associated with the file, or any other information that can beused to determine the location or the device to backup a file.

After identifying the secondary storage device 108 to store the file, orsecondary or backup copy of the file, the media agent 144 may identifythe secondary storage device 108 to the storage manager 140. The storagemanager 140 may associate the identity of the secondary storage device108 along with the identity of the file in a repository (e.g., themanagement database 146). In addition, or alternatively, the media agent144 may associate the identity of the secondary storage device 108 alongwith the identity of the file in a repository (e.g., the media agentdatabase 152. Further, one or more of the storage manager 140 and themedia agent 144 may store at the repository information relating to theencryption algorithm used to encrypt the file. For example, one or bothsystems may store the identity of the algorithm used to encrypt thefile, the identity of an algorithm capable of decrypting the file, theidentity of the system that encrypted the file, and the like.

If the media agent 144 determines at the decision block 606 that thefile is not encrypted or, in some cases, should be encrypted a secondtime, the media agent 144 encrypts the file, or causes the file to beencrypted, at block 610. In some cases, the media agent 144 may use thesame encryption algorithm regardless of the file to be encrypted. Inother cases, the media agent 144 may select an encryption algorithmbased on the file (e.g., the name of the file, the size of the file, thetype of file, the owner of the file, etc.), the secondary storage device108 where the file is to be stored, the client computing device 102 thatprovided the file, or any other factor that can be used to determine theencryption algorithm to use to encrypt the file. In yet other cases, theencryption algorithm may be selected by the storage manager 140.

At block 612, the media agent 144 stores the encrypted file on asecondary storage device 108. In some embodiments, the block 612 caninclude one or more of the embodiments described above with respect tothe block 608. For example, in some cases, the media agent 144 mayselect the secondary storage device 108 based on one or more storagedevice selection rules. As a second example, the media agent 144 maystore with the file the identity of the encryption algorithm used toencrypt the file. In addition, or alternatively, the media agent 144 maystore the identity of the encryption algorithm used to encrypt the filealong with the storage location of the file in a table at the mediaagent database 152 and/or at the storage manager 140. In some cases, thestorage location of the file may be stored at the client computingdevice 102.

In some embodiments, a copy of the file may be stored at the secondarystorage computing device 106 (e.g., as part of a cache) as part of theblock 608 and/or the block 612. The copy of the file may be stored for aspecific period of time or until evicted, which, for example, may occuras part of a cache maintenance process or to make room in the cache foradditional files.

Advantageously, in certain embodiments, the process 600 may be used toperform a selective encryption backup process. In some cases, encryptingonly unencrypted files during a backup process, time and computingresources can be saved during the backup process. Alternatively, in somecases, the process 600 can be used to encrypt all files regardless ofencryption status. By encrypting all files regardless of encryptionstatus during a backup process, the process 600 can be used to ensureconsistent encryption across files of a backup.

Example of a File Restoration Process

FIG. 7 illustrates an example embodiment of a file restoration process700. The process 700 can be implemented, at least in part, by any systemthat can restore a file from a secondary storage device 108 to arecipient system (e.g., the client computing device 102). For example,the process 700, in whole or in part, can be implemented by the storagemanager 140, a secondary storage computing device 106, and a media agent144, to name a few. Although any number of systems, in whole or in part,can implement the process 700, to simplify discussion, portions of theprocess 700 will be described with reference to particular systems.

The process 700 begins at block 702 where, for example, a storagemanager 140 identifies a file to be restored from a secondary storagedevice 108 by a media agent 144. The file may be identified as part of arestore command received from the storage manager 140 at a secondarystorage computing device 106. In some cases, the restore command is sentto a particular secondary storage computing device 106 based on the fileto be restored. The storage manager 140 can determine which secondarystorage computing device 106 to send the restore command based oninformation stored at the storage manager 140, such as a table of filelocations. In some cases, the process 700 may be performed as part of asystem or storage device restore process. In other cases, the process700 may be initiated by a client computing device 102. For example, theclient computing device 102 may identify the file to be restored at theblock 702 or may send the restore command to the secondary storagecomputing device 106 and/or media agent 144.

At block 704, the media agent 144 identifies a secondary storage device108 that includes a copy of the file identified at the block 702. Thesecondary storage device 108 may be identified based on the restorecommand that may be received as part of the block 702. Alternatively,the secondary storage device 108 may be identified based on the file tobe restored and/or based on a storage location table included as part ofthe media agent database 152 that identifies the location of storedfiles. The identified storage location may include the secondary storagedevice 108 from a set of secondary storage devices and, in some cases,may include the location within the identified secondary storage device108 that has the copy of file. In some embodiments, the block 704 isoptional. For example, in some cases, the media agent 144 has access toa single secondary storage device 108.

At block 706, the media agent 144 retrieves the file from the secondarystorage device 108. Further, the media agent 144 accesses metadataassociated with the file at block 708. The metadata may include the filename, the file extension, or additional information stored with the fileor at a table with an entry for the file, such as a table at the mediaagent database 152.

Based, at least in part, on the metadata accessed at the block 708, themedia agent 144 determines at decision block 710 whether the media agent144 encrypted the file. In some embodiments, the media agent 144determines whether any media agent included in a secondary storagedevice encrypted the file. Further, in some cases the decision block 710can include determining whether any media agent associated with aninformation management system 100 of an organization encrypted the file.In other words, in some cases, the decision block 710 can includedetermining whether the file was encrypted as part of a storageoperation associated with secondary storage or with primary storage, orwhether the encryption occurred at a system external to the informationmanagement system 100 as may occur when a user or application receivesan encrypted file from a third-party user or system.

If the media agent 144 determines that it encrypted the file at thedecision block 710, the media agent 144 at block 712 decrypts the fileretrieved at the block 706 using a decryption algorithm associated withthe media agent 144. In cases where the media agent 144 may have usedone of several encryption algorithms to encrypt the file, the mediaagent 144 may identify the decryption algorithm based on the metadataaccessed at the block 708. Alternatively, the decryption algorithm maybe identified as part of the restore command or included with theidentification of the file to restore at the block 702.

As previously described, in some cases the file may have been encryptedby other systems within the secondary storage subsystem 118, such as byother media agents 144 or secondary storage computing devices 106. Insuch cases, the media agent 144 may determine the decryption algorithmbased on the device that encrypted the file or by communicating with thedevice that encrypted the file, such as by accessing metadata stored atthe device that encrypted the file.

Once the media agent 144 has decrypted the file, the secondary storagecomputing device 106 provides a recipient system with access to theunencrypted file at block 714. The recipient system may be the systemthat requested the file (e.g., the client computing device 102), amobile device in communication with a computing system in the primarystorage subsystem 117 of the information management system 100 (e.g., aclient computing device 102 or a server (not shown)), the storagemanager 140, a system identified by the storage manager 140, or anyother system that may be authorized to access the decrypted file.Further, providing access to the decrypted file can include sending thedecrypted file to the recipient system, sending the file to anothersystem (e.g., the storage manager 140) to provide to the recipientsystem, or enabling the recipient system to access the secondary storagecomputing device 106 to obtain the decrypted file. Moreover, in somecases, providing access to the decrypted file can include providing oneor more data agents 142 at the recipient system with access to thedecrypted file.

If the media agent 144 determines that it did not encrypt the file atthe decision block 710, the media agent 144 at block 716 identifies theencryption algorithm used by the encrypting system to encrypt the file.The media agent 144 may identify the encryption algorithm based on thefile, metadata associated with the file, information provided by thestorage manager 140, information provided by the recipient system,information included in the restore command, or any other data that canbe used to identify the encryption algorithm. In some cases, theencryption information may include a key, such as a public key, fordecrypting the file.

At block 718, the media agent 144 decrypts the file using a decryptionalgorithm associated with the encryption algorithm identified at theblock 716. In some cases, the media agent 144 may use a key providedand/or identified at the block 716 to decrypt the file. After the fileis decrypted, the secondary storage computing device 106 provides arecipient system with access to the unencrypted file at block 714 aspreviously described.

In some embodiments, the blocks 716, 718, and 714 may be optional. Forexample, if the media agent 144 determines that it did not encrypt thefile at the decision block 710, it may send the encrypted file to therecipient system without decrypting the file. In such cases, therecipient system (e.g., client computing device 102) may decrypt thefile or provide the file to another system for decryption.

Second Example of a File Restoration Process

FIG. 8 illustrates a second example embodiment of a file restorationprocess 800. The process 800 can be implemented, at least in part, byany system that can restore a file from a secondary storage device 108to a recipient system (e.g., the client computing device 102). Forexample, the process 800, in whole or in part, can be implemented by thestorage manager 140, a secondary storage computing device 106, and amedia agent 144, to name a few. Although any number of systems, in wholeor in part, can implement the process 800, to simplify discussion,portions of the process 800 will be described with reference toparticular systems.

The process 800 begins at block 802 where, for example, a storagemanager 140 identifies a file to be restored from a secondary storagedevice 108 by a media agent 144. The media agent 144 identifies at block804 a secondary storage device 108 that includes a copy of the file tobe restored. In some embodiments, the blocks 802 and 804 can include oneor more of the embodiments described above with respect to the blocks702 and 704 respectively.

At block 806, the media agent 144 retrieves the file from the secondarystorage device 108 identified at the block 804. In some embodiments, theblock 806 can include one or more of the embodiments described abovewith respect to the block 706. Further, in some cases, the block 806 caninclude accessing metadata associated with the file. In such cases, theblock 806 can include one or more of the embodiments described abovewith respect to the block 708.

At decision block 808, the media agent 144 determines whether the fileis encrypted. The media agent 144 may make this determination based, atleast in part, on metadata associated with the file. Alternatively, orin addition, the media agent 144 may determine whether the file isencrypted by analyzing the file itself. In some embodiments, thedecision block 808 may be optional. For example, if every system capableof storing a file at a secondary storage device 108 is configured toencrypt each file before storing the file, then the decision block 808may be optional. In some embodiments, the decision block 808 can includeone or more of the embodiments described above with respect to thedecision block 710.

If the media agent 144 determines at the decision block 808 that thefile is not encrypted, the secondary storage computing device 106provides a recipient system with access to the file at block 810. Oncethe recipient system has received the file, the recipient system canpresent it to a user or provide an application with access to the filevia, for example, the interface agent 220, the secure file access module224, or a data agent 142. In some embodiments, the block 810 can includeone or more of the embodiments described above with respect to the block714.

If the media agent 144 determines at the decision block 808 that thefile is encrypted, the media agent 144 determines whether the filemimics an unencrypted file at decision block 812. The determination ofthe decision block 812 is based on an unencrypted file of the same typeas the decrypted version of the file retrieved at the block 806. Themedia agent 144 may make the determination at the decision block 812based, at least in part, on metadata associated with the file and/or thefile itself. In some embodiments, the decision block 812 may beoptional. For example, if every system capable of storing a file at asecondary storage device 108 is configured to configure each encryptedfile to mimic an unencrypted file before storing the file, then thedecision block 812 may be optional.

As previously described with respect to the block 408, an encrypted filethat mimics an unencrypted file can include a reference to the encryptedfile that shares some or all of the display characteristics of areference to an unencrypted file. For example, the reference to theencrypted file may include the same extension and/or the same icon as areference to the unencrypted file. In some cases, at least some of themetadata associated with the encrypted file may be the same as themetadata associated with an unencrypted copy of the file. For example,the metadata associated with the encrypted file may identify one or moreapplications that can access the file as if it were unencryptedregardless of whether the one or more applications can access the filein its encrypted form. Thus, in some cases, a user accessing themetadata for the encrypted file may, in some cases, not be able toidentify the file as an encrypted file. Further, in some instances, atleast some applications may not be able to identify whether the file isencrypted based on the metadata associated with the file.

If at the decision block 812 the media agent 144 determines that thefile does not mimic an unencrypted file, the media agent 144 modifiesthe encrypted file to mimic an unencrypted file at the block 814.Generally, the modification of the block 814 does not include decryptingthe file. Thus, the modified file remains an encrypted file. Modifyingthe encrypted file may include modifying one or more of the factorsdescribed above with respect to the decision block 812 in determiningwhether the file mimics an unencrypted file. For example, modifying theencrypted file can include changing the icon used to display a referenceto the encrypted file to the user to match the icon used to display areference to the unencrypted file to the user. As previously described,in some cases, the icon may be annotated. Further, as a second example,modifying the encrypted file can include changing a the file name and/orfile extension of the encrypted file to match the file name and/or fileextension of an unencrypted version of the file. In other cases,changing the file name may include hiding a portion of the file nameand/or file extension so that it is not displayed to a user.

Once the encrypted file, or a reference to the encrypted file, has beenmodified at the block 814, or if at the decision block 812 the mediaagent 144 determines that the file mimics an unencrypted file, thesecondary storage computing device 106 provides a recipient system withaccess to the file at block 810 as previously described. The recipientsystem (e.g., the client computing device 102) using, for example, thedecryption module 228 can decrypt the file for presentation to a user orfor provisioning to an application. In some cases, the decryption of thefile may occur upon the recipient system obtaining access to the file.In other cases, the decryption of the file may occur at a later time. Ineither case, the file may be stored at the primary storage device 104upon the recipient system receiving access to the file.

In some cases, as has been described, the process 800 is a multi-tierfile restoration process. In such cases, a first portion of therestoration process is performed by one or more systems within thesecondary storage subsystem 118 of the information management system 100and a second portion of the file restoration process being performed byone or more systems within the primary storage subsystem 117 of theinformation management system 100.

Further, in some embodiments, the recipient system may use the process500 to provide a user and/or application with access to the file. Aspreviously described, in some embodiments, the media agent 144 maydecrypt the file at the block 814 and can provide the recipient systemwith access to the decrypted file.

Second Example Client Computing Environment

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a clientcomputing environment 900 including a client computing device 950 and aprimary storage device 960. The client computing device 950 and theprimary storage device 960 can be included as part of the informationmanagement system 100 previously described above with respect to FIGS.1A-1E. Further, the client computing device 950 and the primary storagedevice may be included in the primary storage subsystem 117. Moreover,in certain embodiments, the client computing device 950 can include oneor more of the embodiments described with respect to the clientcomputing device 102. Likewise, the primary storage device 960 caninclude one or more of the embodiments described with respect to theprimary storage device 104.

The client computing device 950 may include a number of systems andsubsystems and be capable of executing a number of different types ofsoftware. For instance, the client computing device 950 may include oneor more applications 954, a file system 902, one or more data agents952, an authentication system 906, and an encryption rules repository908. Further, at least one of the data agents 952 may be a file systemdata agent 904. Although a single file system 902 and a single filesystem data agent 904 are illustrated in FIG. 9, in some embodiments,the client computing device 950 may include multiple file systems and/ormultiple file system data agents. The file system 902 can include anytype of file system. For example, the file system 902 may include aMicrosoft Windows based file system or a Linux based file system.Furthermore, in some embodiments, the file system 902 may include one ormore of the embodiments previously described with respect to the filesystem 202.

The applications 954 can include any type of application. Further, theapplications 954 can include one or more embodiments previouslydescribed with respect to the applications 110. Some or all of theapplications may be associated with one or more data agents 952. Aspreviously described, a data agent may assist with the performance ofinformation management operations based on the type of data that isbeing accessed and/or protected, at a client-specific and/orapplication-specific level. Further, at least some of the data agents952 may include one or more of the embodiments previously described withrespect to the data agents 142.

As with the client computing device 102, the client computing device 950may include an authentication system 906. The authentication system 906may include any system configured to authenticate a user attempting touse the client computing device 950 and/or attempting to access filesstored on the primary storage device 960, or store elsewhere. Further,the authentication system 906 may include one or more of the embodimentspreviously described with respect to the authentication system 206.

The file system data agent 904 can include a data agent that facilitatesthe file system 902 managing data processed or organized by the filesystem 902. For example, as previously described, the file system dataagent may be involved in handling data files and/or system files, andmay facilitate backing up the file system 902 of the client computingdevice 950. Backing up the file system 902 may include backing up filesstored at the primary storage device 960. In certain embodiments, thefile system data agent 904 can perform one or more processes associatedwith the filter driver 204. Thus, in some embodiments, the file systemdata agent 904 and/or its subsystems can include one or more of theembodiments described with respect to the filter driver 204 and/or itsubsystems.

The primary storage device 960 can include any storage device forstoring primary data. For example, the primary storage device 960 may bea hard drive, a solid state drive, memory, flash, etc. Althoughillustrated as a separate system, the primary storage device 960 may beincluded as part of the client computing device 950. Further, theprimary storage device 960 may include one or more of the embodimentsdescribed with respect to the primary storage device 104. As previouslydescribed with respect to FIG. 2, the primary storage device may includea number of repositories to facilitate storing and/or organizing datastored by the primary storage device. For instance, the primary storagedevice 960 may include a repository 910 for storing unencrypted filesand a repository 912 for storing encrypted files. In some embodiments,the primary storage device 960 may be organized into a lesser number ora greater number of repositories and/or partitions.

Each data agent may include a number of systems or subsystems thatfacilitate the data agent processing data for a correspondingapplication or system. For instance, the file system data agent 904 mayinclude an interface agent 920, an encryption module 922, a secure fileaccess module 924, an encryption rules engine 926, a decryption module928, and a file monitor 930. In some embodiments, the file system dataagent 904 may include fewer or additional subsystems. For instance, theencryption module 922 and the decryption module 928 may be part of asingle subsystem. As a second example, the secure file access module 924may be optional because, for example, a separate system may handlesecure file access.

The interface agent 920 may be configured to control how files, orreferences to files (e.g., file names, file icons, etc.), are displayedto a user. Controlling how files are displayed can include controllingwhether a file reference to an encrypted files is displayed as a filereference to an unencrypted file or as an annotated version of areference to an unencrypted file. For instance, a file icon for anencrypted file may be the same as for an unencrypted file.Alternatively, the file icon may include an asterisk to indicate that itrepresents an encrypted file. In some embodiments, the interface agent920 can include one or more of the embodiments described with respect tothe interface agent 220.

In some cases, the file system data agent 904 may use an encryptionrules engine 926, which can access encryption rules from the encryptionrules repository 908, to determine whether a file is to be encrypted. Ifthe encryption rules engine 926 determines that a file should beencrypted, the encryption module 922 can perform encryption of the fileand, in some cases, of the encryption key used to encrypt the file. Theencryption module 922 can include any encryption engine that can encrypta file using one or more encryption algorithms. Further, the encryptionmodule 922 can be used to encrypt encryption keys. In some embodiments,the encryption rules engine 926 can include one or more of theembodiments described with respect to the encryption rules engine 226.Similarly, in some cases, the encryption module 922 can include one ormore of the embodiments previously described with respect to theencryption module 222.

To decrypt files, the file system data agent 904 can use the decryptionmodule 928, which can include any decryption engine that can decrypt afile using one or more decryption algorithms. Further, the decryptionmodule 928 can be used to decrypt encrypted keys. In some cases, thedecryption module 928 can include one or more of the embodimentspreviously described with respect to the decryption module 228.

The secure file access module 924 can determine the encryption status ofa file and can manage the decryption and presentation of encrypted filesto users who are authorized to access the file. Further, the secure fileaccess module 924 can manage access by applications and/or computingsystems attempting to access the file. In some embodiments, the fileaccess module 924 can include one or more of the embodiments previouslydescribed with respect to the secure file access module 224.

In some embodiments, the decision of whether to encrypt a file at theprimary storage device may be based on whether the file has beenmodified. Further, the decision of whether to decrypt a file may bebased on whether a file has been selected for backup to a secondarystorage device 106, or whether a user or application desires to accessthe file. The file monitor 930 can include any system that can monitoractivity with respect to the file to facilitate determining whether thefile needs encrypting or decrypting. This determination may be madebased, at least in part, on rules stored at the encryption rulesrepository 908 and/or commands received from a user, application, and/orstorage manager 140. In some embodiments, the file monitor 930 caninclude one or more of the embodiments described with respect to thefile monitor 230.

Example User Key Encryption Process

FIG. 10A illustrates an example embodiment of a user key encryptionprocess 1000. The process 1000 can be implemented, at least in part, byany system that can encrypt a private key from an asymmetric key pair(e.g., a private/public key pair). For example, the process 1000, inwhole or in part, can be implemented by the filter driver 204, the filesystem data agent 904, the authentication system 906, the encryptionrules engine 926, and the encryption module 922, to name a few. Althoughany number of systems, in whole or in part, can implement the process1000, to simplify discussion, portions of the process 1000 will bedescribed with reference to particular systems.

In some embodiments, the process 1000 may be combined and/or integratedwith a process for encrypting a file for storage on a primary storagedevice, such as the process 1050, which is described below with respectto FIG. 10B. In some cases, the process 1000 may be performed at a timeperiod that is earlier than a time period during which the process 1050may be performed. In other cases, the process 1000 and the process 1050may be performed together as part of a single process. In some cases,the process 1000 may be performed multiple times for a user. Forexample, a user or system may have different asymmetric key pairs foruse with different sets of files.

Further, in some cases, the process 1050 may be performed a number oftimes as a file is encrypted and decrypted over the lifetime of thefile, while the process 1000 may be performed once or some number oftimes fewer than the process 1050. For instance, the process 1000 may beused to obtain an encrypted copy of a user private key. Once theencrypted user private key is obtained, it may be unnecessary to performthe process 1000 again for that user. However, the process 1050 may beperformed multiple times as a file may be encrypted and decrypted anumber of times.

The process 1000 begins at block 1002 where, for example, the encryptionmodule 922 obtains access to an asymmetric key pair for each user who isauthorized to access a set of files at, or stored on, a primary storage960. The set of files may include any number of files including a singlefile. Determining the users who are authorized to access the set offiles may be based on metadata associated with the files and/or theuser. Alternatively, or in addition, determining the users who areauthorized to access the set of files may be based on identifying theusers who are authorized to access the client computing device 950 orwho have an account with the client computing device 950. Thus, in somecases, the block 1002 may identify users who are authorized to accessthe client computing device 950 and/or the primary storage 960 insteadof the users who are authorized to access the set of files.

In some cases, only a single user may be authorized to access the set offiles (e.g., the file author or owner for each of the files, or for adirectory including the files). In other cases, a number of users may beauthorized to access the set of files. The asymmetric key pair for eachuser may include a public key and a private key and may be generatedbased on any type of asymmetric key algorithm. For example, theasymmetric key pair may be generated using RSA.

The asymmetric key pairs may be obtained by accessing a key repositoryand/or by accessing the encryption rules repository 908. Alternatively,the asymmetric key pairs may be obtained from the storage manager 140.As yet another alternative, the asymmetric key pairs may be generated bythe encryption module 922. An asymmetric key pair may be associated witha user regardless of the computing device or primary storage that theuser accesses. In other cases, the asymmetric key pair may be specificto a user and a computing device and/or primary storage accessed by theuser.

At block 1004, the encryption module 922 obtains a passphrase for eachof the users. The passphrase may be a password, such as the passwordused by the user to login or to access the client computing device 950,or a password used to access a network used to communicate with systemsof the primary storage subsystem 117. In such cases, the passphrase maybe obtained by the authentication system 906. Often, the passphrase isunique to the user. However, in some cases, the passphrase may not beunique. In some embodiments, the passphrase of a user may be combinedwith information unique to a user to ensure that the passphrase obtainedat the block 1004 is unique. For instance, the passphrase may include acombination of a user's password and a randomly, or pseudo-randomly,generated number assigned to the user that is unique to the user.

At block 1006, the encryption module 922 hashes each passphrase. Hashingthe passphrase may include performing a hashing algorithm multiple times(e.g., 512 times, a thousand times, a million times, etc.) with eachsubsequent performance of the hashing algorithm using the result of theprior performance of the hashing algorithm as the input to be hashed. Insome cases, the hashing may be performed a threshold number of times.The threshold may be selected based on a security level of the set offiles. Advantageously, in certain embodiments, by hashing the passphrasemultiple times, the probability that a malicious user is able todetermine the passphrase based on the hashed passphrase is reduced. Theencryption module 922 may use any type of cryptographic hash function.For example, the hash function can be a SHA-512, MD6, or BLAKE-512 hashfunction. In some cases, the encryption module 922 may pad thepassphrase with additional data to ensure the passphrase is of aparticular length.

At block 1008, the encryption module 922 encrypts, for each user, one ofthe keys from the asymmetric key pair (e.g., the private key) associatedwith the user using the hashed passphrase obtained at the block 1006. Insome embodiments, the blocks 1002-1008 are optional. For example, thedata encryption key used to encrypt the file may be secured using onlykeys associated with the client computing device 950, as described withrespect to the blocks 1010-1014.

At block 1010, the encryption module 922 obtains access to an asymmetrickey pair for the client computing device 950. The asymmetric key pairmay include a public key and a private key and, as with the asymmetrickey pairs of the block 1002, may be generated based on any type ofasymmetric key algorithm. For example, the asymmetric keys may begenerated using an RSA algorithm. Further, as with the user asymmetrickey pairs, the asymmetric key pair of the client computing device 950may be obtained by accessing a key repository and/or by accessing theencryption rules repository 908. Alternatively, the asymmetric key pairmay be obtained from the storage manager 140. Further, in some cases,the asymmetric key pair may be generated by the encryption module 922.

At block 1012, the file system data agent 904 provides one of the keysfrom the asymmetric key pair (e.g., the private key) associated with theclient computing device 950 obtained at the block 1010 to the storagemanager 140 for encryption. In some embodiments, the block 1012 caninclude providing an identity of the client computing system 950 to thestorage manager 140.

Upon receiving the private key, the storage manager 140 can access apassphrase associated with the client computing device 950. In somecases, the passphrase may be hashed, for example, by the storage manager140. Further, the passphrase and/or the hashed version of the passphrasemay be used to encrypt a copy of the private key. Thus, in some cases,the storage manager 140 may perform similar operations on the privatekey, provided to the storage manager at block 1012, as described abovewith respect to the blocks 1006 and 1008.

In some cases, the passphrase may be accessed from a repository, whichmay be included with the storage manager 140 or may be separate, butaccessible by the storage manager 140 over, for example, a network.Alternatively, or in addition, the storage manager 140 may generate thepassphrase for the client computing device 950. Moreover, in some cases,the passphrase is generated and used by computing systems without a useraccessing the passphrase. Thus, in such embodiments, the passphrase maybe automatically generated without user action. In some cases, thepassphrase may include symbols and/or data that may be unreadable by auser or not alphanumeric. Further, in certain embodiments, the storagemanager 140 may identify the client computing device 950 as available oraccessible as opposed to lost or stolen. In some cases, marking theclient computing device 950 as available, or not lost, may includemarking the passphrase for the client computing device 950 as live orin-use.

At block 1014, the file system data agent 904 receives an encrypted copyof the private key associated with the client computing device 950 fromthe storage manager 140. In some embodiments, the blocks 1010-1014 maybe optional. For example, in some cases, users may be associated withasymmetric key pairs for encrypting files at the primary storage 960,but the client computing device 950 may, in some cases, not beassociated with its own asymmetric key pair.

At block 1016, the file system data agent 904 stores the encrypted userprivate keys (obtained at the block 1008) and the encrypted private keyassociated with the client computing device 960 (obtained at the block1014). In cases where the block 1008 or the block 1014 is optional, theblock 1016 may store the encrypted user private keys or the encryptedprivate key for the client computing device 960 respectively. Storingthe encrypted private keys may include storing the encrypted privatekeys in one or more of the primary storage 960, the file system dataagent 904, a registry of the client computing device 950, the encryptionrules repository 908, a directory of the file system 902, a specialpurpose memory device (not shown) of the client computing device 950, aspecial purpose location within a memory device of the client computingdevice 950, and the like. In some cases, the encrypted private key maybe embedded with a file that is encrypted with a data encryption key,which is itself encrypted by a public key corresponding to the encryptedprivate key. The encrypted data encryption key may also be embedded withthe file.

At block 1018, the encryption module 922 discards the private key, thepassphrase, and the hashed passphrase for each user. In addition, theblock 1018 may include discarding the private key for the clientcomputing device 950. Discarding the private key for the users and theclient computing device 950 may include discarding unencrypted privatekeys. Thus, in certain embodiments, a private key may exist in itsunencrypted form during generation of the private key and duringdecryption of a data encryption key that was encrypted with a public keycorresponding to the private key. In such instances, the private key mayonly exist in an encrypted form during time periods other thanasymmetric key generation and decryption of a data encryption key.

Although the operations of the process 1000 have been describedfollowing a specific order, the process 1000 is not limited as such. Forinstance, in some cases, operations may be performed in a differentorder (e.g., the operations associated with the block 1010 may beperformed prior to the operations associated with the block 1002).Further, in some cases, operations may be performed serially orsubstantially in parallel. For instance, the blocks 1002 and 1010 may beperformed substantially in parallel.

Example Primary Storage File Encryption Process

FIG. 10B illustrates an example embodiment of a primary storageencryption process 1050. The process 1050 can be implemented, at leastin part, by any system that can encrypt a file for storage on a primarystorage device (e.g., the primary storage device 104 or the primarystorage device 960). Further, the process 1050 can be performed by anysystem that can encrypt the key used to encrypt the file with userand/or system specific keys, which may be embedded with the encryptedfile. For example, the process 1050, in whole or in part, can beimplemented by the filter driver 204, the file system data agent 904,the authentication system 906, the file monitor 930, the encryptionrules engine 926, the interface agent 920, and the encryption module922, to name a few. Although any number of systems, in whole or in part,can implement the process 1050, to simplify discussion, portions of theprocess 1050 will be described with reference to particular systems.

The process 1050 begins at block 1052 where, for example, the encryptionrules engine 926 determines that a file is to be encrypted for storageat a primary storage device 960. The encryption rules engine 926 maydetermine that the file is to be encrypted based, at least in part, onmetadata associated with the file (e.g., the file type, the file storagelocation). Further, the determination may be based, at least in part, onencryption rules, which may be stored at the encryption rules repository908 and which may be associated with the file based on the file'smetadata. For example, all word processing files with a particularextension may be associated with an encryption rule that states thatword processing files should be encrypted at the primary storage device960 each time the files are closed. Alternatively, the encryption rulesengine 926 may determine that a file is to be encrypted in response toan action by a user or application. In some embodiments, the block 1052may occur in response to a command from a user, application 954, orsystem (e.g., the storage manager 140). Alternatively, the block 1052may occur as part of an existing process (e.g., during or at the end ofa backup process to a secondary storage computing device 106 or asecondary storage device 108).

At block 1054, the encryption module 922 obtains a data encryption key.This data encryption key can include any type of symmetric key. Forexample, the symmetric key can be an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)key. Further, the key may be based on a stream cipher (e.g., RC4, A5/1,etc.) or a block cipher (e.g., Blowfish, DES, etc.). In some cases, thedata encryption key may be an asymmetric key. In some cases, theencryption module 922 may obtain the key by accessing a key repositoryand/or by accessing the encryption rules repository 908. Alternatively,the encryption module 922 may obtain the key from the storage manager140. In some cases, the encryption module 922 may generate the dataencryption key. Generally, the data encryption key is unique for a file.However, in some cases, the data encryption key may be shared among aset of files. For example, the data encryption key may be used for eachfile in a directory. In certain embodiments, the data encryption key maybe based on the file. In other cases, the data encryption key may begenerated independently of the file.

Using the data encryption key, the encryption module 922 encrypts thefile at block 1056. At block 1058, the encryption module 922 accesses apublic key for each user who is authorized to access the file. Theencryption module 922 may determine the users who are authorized toaccess the file based on metadata associated with the file and/or basedon users who are authorized to access the client computing device 950and/or the primary storage 960 or a storage location thereon (e.g., adirectory). Further, the encryption module 922 may access the publickeys by accessing one or more of the storage locations previouslydescribed with respect to the block 1016. Although the same types ofstorage locations may be used to store the public keys and the encryptedprivate keys, the storage used to store the public keys and the privatekeys may or may not be the same storage. For example, the encryptedprivate keys may be stored in a special encrypted key store, while thecorresponding public keys may be stored in an unencrypted key manager(not shown) or a location of the primary storage 960. As mentionedpreviously, a user may be associated with multiple asymmetric key pairs.In such cases, the block 1058 may include determining the public key ofthe user to access based on the file to be encrypted and/or the locationof the file to be encrypted. Alternatively, or in addition, the publickey may be selected based on a desired encryption level.

At block 1060, the encryption module 922 encrypts, for each user who isauthorized to access the file, a copy of the data encryption key usingthe public key associated with the user identified or accessed at theblock 1058. In some embodiments, the blocks 1058 and 1060 are optional.For example, the data encryption key used to encrypt the file may besecured using only keys associated with the client computing device 950,as described with respect to the blocks 1062-1064.

At block 1062, the encryption module 922 accesses a public keyassociated with the client computing device 950. As with the block 1058,the encryption module 922 may access the public key associated with theclient computing device 950 by accessing one or more of the storagelocations previously described with respect to the block 1016. Further,as with the user public keys, in some cases the client computing device950 may be associated with multiple asymmetric key pairs. In such cases,the block 1062 may include determining the public key of the clientcomputing device 950 to access at the block 1062 based on the file to beencrypted the location of the file to be encrypted and/or a desiredencryption level.

At block 1064, the encryption module 922 encrypts a copy of the dataencryption key using the public key identified and/or accessed at theblock 1062. In some embodiments, the blocks 1062 and 1064 are optional.For example, the data encryption key used to encrypt the file may besecured using only keys associated with users, as described with respectto the blocks 1058-1060.

At block 1066, the encryption module 922 discards the data encryptionkey. Discarding the data encryption key may include discardingunencrypted copies of the data encryption key from the client computingdevice 950.

The encryption module 922 embeds each encrypted data encryption key withthe encrypted file at block 1068. Embedding the encrypted dataencryption keys with the file may include storing the encrypted dataencryption keys with the encrypted file in a single file. In some cases,the block 1068 may include the encrypted data encryption keys with thefile without embedding the keys with the file. For example, theencrypted data encryption keys may be stored with the encrypted file(e.g., in the same directory or an adjacent block of memory). In othercases, the encrypted data encryption keys may be stored in a separatelocation. In such cases, the encrypted data encryption keys may beassociated with the encrypted file, for example, based on a relationshipin a table or using any other mechanism to associate the encrypted dataencryption keys with the encrypted file.

At block 1070, the encryption module 922 embeds encrypted private keysfor each user and the client computing device with the encrypted file.These encrypted private keys correspond to the public keys accessed atblocks 1058 and 1062. Further, the private keys may be encrypted aspreviously described with respect to the process 1000. In someembodiments, the block 1070 is optional and/or omitted. For example, theencrypted private keys may be stored at the storage manager 140, at asecure store of the client computing device 950, or in any otherlocation as previously described with respect to the block 1016.

Second Example File Backup Process

FIG. 11 illustrates a second example embodiment of a file backup process1100. The process 1100 can be implemented, at least in part, by anysystem that can backup a file to a secondary storage device 108. Forexample, the process 1100, in whole or in part, can be implemented bythe filter driver 204, the file system data agent 904, the secure fileaccess module 924, the decryption module 928, the file monitor 930, andthe storage manager 140, to name a few. Although any number of systems,in whole or in part, can implement the process 1100, to simplifydiscussion, portions of the process 1100 will be described withreference to particular systems.

As described below, the process 1100 includes decrypting an encryptedfile, which may be stored at a primary storage device 960, and providingthe decrypted file to a secondary storage device 108, which may or maynot re-encrypt the file before storing the file. In certain embodiments,the encrypted file is decrypted as part of the process 1100 to enablesingle instancing. In other words, in some cases, by decrypting the filebefore backing up the file, the secondary storage can keep one copy of afile or data to which multiple users or computing devices may shareaccess. Further, decrypting the file before backing it up enablesdeduplication at the secondary storage. In some embodiments, the process1100 may be performed transparently and/or automatically when a usergrants a backup system permission to decrypt files using the user'sprivate key. This permission may be granted at the time that the file isprotected or encrypted. Alternatively, the permission may be granted ata later time. In some cases, when the user is granting a backup systempermission to backup encrypted files, the user may provide the backupsystem with access to the user's private key. Alternatively, in somecases, the process 1100 may be performed without the user grantingpermission to use the user's private key. For example, the process 1100may be performed using the private key associated with the clientcomputing device 950. In some such cases, the user may have previouslyindicated that a backup system is authorized to access one or more ofthe encrypted files.

The process 1100 begins at block 1102 where, for example, the filemonitor 930 identifies a file for backup to a secondary storage device108. The file may be identified for backup in response to a user commandor a command from a storage manager 140. In other cases, the file may beidentified for backup as part of a scheduled backup process that mayoccur once, or on a scheduled basis (e.g., nightly, weekly, monthly,etc.). Further, in some cases, the file may be identified for backupbased on the storage location of the file in the primary storage device960. For example, files in a particular directory may be identified orscheduled for backup.

At decision block 1104, the secure file access module 924 determineswhether the file identified for backup is encrypted. If the secure fileaccess module 924 determines that the file is not encrypted, the filesystem data agent 904 provides the file to the secondary storage device108 at block 1106. Providing the file to the secondary storage device108 may include providing the file to a media agent 144 of a secondarystorage computing device 106, which can then process the file for backupstorage at a secondary storage device 108. Processing the file forbackup can include the secondary storage computing device 106 encryptingthe file.

If at decision block 1104 the secure file access module 924 determinesthat the file is encrypted, the decryption module 928 accesses anencrypted private key for the file that is associated with the clientcomputing device 950 at block 1108. Accessing the encrypted private keycan include extracting the encrypted private key from the encryptedfile. In other cases, the encrypted private key may be accessed from asecure storage area of the primary storage device 960.

At block 1110, the file system data agent 904 provides the encryptedprivate key to the storage manager 140. In some embodiments, providingthe encrypted private key to the storage manager 140 includes providingan identity of the client computing device 950 to the storage manager140. Further, in some cases, the block 1110 may include providingauthentication information for a user who is accessing the clientcomputing device 950 to the storage manager 140.

The storage manager 140 can decrypt the encrypted private key using apassphrase associated with the client computing device 950. The storagemanager 140 may identity the passphrase based on the received encryptedprivate key and/or the identity information received from the clientcomputing device 950. The storage manager 140 may hash the passphraseassociated with the client computing device 950 and use the hashedpassphrase to decrypt the encrypted private key. In some cases, thepassphrase may be stored in its hashed form thereby making itunnecessary to hash the passphrase at the time of decryption of theencrypted private key for the client computing device 950.

In some embodiments, the storage manager 140 may determine whether thepassphrase associated with the client computing device 950 is active. Ifthe passphrase is active, the storage manager 140 can use the passphraseto decrypt the encrypted private key. However, if the passphrase ismarked as inactive, lost, or stolen, then the storage manager 140 mayreject the request to decrypt the encrypted private key. Advantageously,when a client computing device 950 has been compromised, lost, stolen,or is no longer trusted, a user (e.g., an administrator) may indicate tothe storage manager 140 that requests from the client computing device950 should no longer be accepted. In response, the storage manager 140can mark passphrases associated with the client computing device 950 asinactive thereby preventing requests to access encrypted files from theclient computing device 950 from being processed.

At block 1112, assuming the passphrase associated with the clientcomputing device 950 is active at the storage manager 140, the filesystem data agent 904 receives the private key from the storage manager140. The private key received at the block 1112 may be the decryptedversion of the encrypted private key provided to the storage manager 140at the block 1110.

The decryption module 928 extracts an encrypted data encryption keyassociated with the client computing device 950 from the file at block1114. In some cases, the encrypted data encryption key is accessed froma storage location at the client computing device 950 and/or the primarystorage device 960. The encrypted data encryption key may be identifiedby accessing a data structure, such as a table, the associates theencrypted data encryption keys with the corresponding files. Further thedata structure may associate each of the encrypted data encryption keysfor a file with corresponding systems and/or users.

At block 1116, the decryption module 928 decrypts the encrypted dataencryption key using the private key obtained at the block 1112. Thedecryption module 928 then decrypts the file using the decrypted dataencryption key at block 1118. The decrypted file is provided to thesecondary storage device 108, or to the secondary storage computingdevice 106, at block 1120. In some embodiments, the block 1120 may alsoinclude deleting or discarding the decrypted data encryption key and/orprivate key. Further, the block 1120 may include deleting the decryptedfile after it is provided to the secondary storage device 108.

In some embodiments, the process 1100 may include using a private keyassociated with a user instead of the private key associated with theclient computing device 950. In such embodiments, block 1108 may includeaccessing an encrypted private key associated with a user who, forexample, initiated the file backup process. Further, the blocks 1110 and1112 may include accessing a passphrase from the user by, for example,requesting the user provide the passphrase and/or accessing thepassphrase from the authentication system 906, which may have obtainedthe passphrase during an authentication process of the user. Thepassphrase may then be hashed by the decryption module 928 and used todecrypt the user's encrypted private key. At block 1114, the decryptionmodule 928 can extract an encrypted data encryption associated with theuser. This encrypted data encryption key may be decrypted at the block1116 using the private key of the user.

The process 1100, in some embodiments, may be used for accessing thefile by a user, an application, or system other than the secondarystorage device 108. In such embodiments, the decrypted file is presentedto the requestor of the file at the block 1120. For instance, the filemay be presented to a user who is authorized to access the file. Theuser's authorization may be determined based, at least in part, onwhether a data encryption key that was encrypted with a key associatedwith the user exists.

Example Client Passphrase Replacement Process

FIG. 12 illustrates an example embodiment of a client passphrasereplacement process 1200. The process 1200 can be implemented, at leastin part, by any system that can access an encrypted private keyassociated with or assigned to a client computing device and can replacethe passphrase used to encrypt the encrypted private key. For example,the process 1200, in whole or in part, can be implemented by the filterdriver 204, the file system data agent 904, the secure file accessmodule 924, the encryption module 922, the decryption module 928, thefile monitor 930, and the storage manager 140, to name a few. Althoughany number of systems, in whole or in part, can implement the process1200, to simplify discussion, portions of the process 1200 will bedescribed with reference to particular systems.

The process 1200 may be performed in response to a detected integritybreach with respect to a client computing device 950 or storage manager140. This integrity breach may include a detected unauthorized access oran attempted unauthorized access of the client computing device 950 orstorage manager 140. The unauthorized access may include an attempt,successful or otherwise, to access or decrypt a private key associatedwith the client computing device 950. Alternatively, or in addition, theprocess 1200 may be performed at a scheduled time to update or replacesystem passphrases for one or more client computing devices 950.Further, as will be described in more detail below, the process 1200 maybe used to replace user passphrases.

The process 1200 begins at block 1202 where, for example, the filesystem data agent 904 accesses an encrypted private key associated witha client computing device 950. This encrypted private key may bespecific to a file or set of files stored at the primary storage device960 or accessible by the client computing device 950. Alternatively, theencrypted private key may be specific to the client computing device 950and may be used for any file that the client computing device 950 canaccess.

At block 1204, the file system data agent 904 provides the encryptedprivate key to the storage manager 140. In some cases, the block 1204includes providing an identity of the client computing device 950 to thestorage manager 140. The storage manager 140 can decrypt the encryptedprivate key using a passphrase or hashed passphrase associated with theclient computing device 950. The storage manager can then access a newpassphrase, or can generate a new passphrase, for the client computingdevice 950. This new passphrase can be hashed and used to encrypt thedecrypted private key to obtain an updated encrypted private key that isencrypted based on the new passphrase for the client computing device950. The new passphrase may be assigned to the client computing device950 and may be identified as active at the storage manager 140. Theprevious passphrase that was assigned to the client computing device 950can be identified as inactive thereby preventing decryption of versionsof the private key that were encrypted using the previous passphrase ofthe client computing device 950. In some embodiments, the block 1204 caninclude one or more embodiments described above with respect to theblock 1110.

The file system data agent 904 receives a new encrypted private key fromthe storage manager 140 at block 1206. This new encrypted private keycan be the updated encrypted private key created by the storage manager140 and assigned to the client computing device 950. Using the process1200, the passphrase of the client computing device 950 may be updatedwhile maintaining the same asymmetric key pair for the client computingdevice 950. An example of an embodiment for updating the asymmetric keypair for the client computing device 950 will be described below withrespect to FIG. 13.

As previously mentioned, a modified version of the process 1200 may beused to update a passphrase for a user. In such embodiments, the filesystem data agent 904 accesses an encrypted key associated with a userat the block 1202. In some cases, the file system data agent 904 maystill provide the encrypted private key to the storage manager 140,which may obtain the user's passphrase from the user and decrypt theencrypted private key. In such cases, the storage manager 140 may alsoobtain a new passphrase from the user, or generate a new passphrase forthe user, and encrypt the private key with the new passphrase, or ahashed version thereof, and provide the new encrypted private key to theclient computing device 950.

However, in other embodiments, Instead of providing the encryptedprivate key to the storage manger 140, the file system data agent 904can obtain the user's passphrase. The user may be prompted for thepassphrase or the passphrase may be obtain from the authenticationsystem 906, which may have obtained the passphrase when the user wasauthenticated by the authentication system 906 during, for example, alogin process. The decryption module 928 may hash the passphrase and usethe hashed passphrase to decrypt the encrypted private encryption key.The encryption module 922 can obtain a new passphrase for the user by,for example, prompting the user for a new passphrase. The encryptionmodule 922 can then hash the new passphrase and use the hashed versionof the new passphrase to encrypt the private key. Any unencrypted copiesof the private key can be discarded. Further, the passphrase provided bythe user may also be discarded.

In some embodiments, instead of decrypting an encrypted private key andusing a new passphrase to re-encrypt the private key, a new asymmetrickey pair may be generated for a user or a client computing device 950.In such cases, the old private key may be used to obtain access to thedata encryption key. The data encryption key can then be encrypted usingthe new private key. The encrypted copy of the data encryption key canthen be embedded or stored with the one or more files for which the dataencryption key corresponds. In some implementations, instead of usingthe old private key to obtain access to the data encryption key, anotherprivate key may be used. For example, if the passphrase is beingreplaced for a user, the private key of the client computing device 950may be used to obtain access to the data encryption key.

In some embodiments, the data encryption key encrypted with the oldpublic key corresponding to the old private key may be discarded. Inother cases, it may be left with the file, or at its storage location.

Example of a Client Key Rotation Process

FIG. 13 illustrates an example embodiment of a client key rotationand/or replacement process 1300. The process 1300 can be implemented, atleast in part, by any system that can access an encrypted private keyassociated with or assigned to a client computing device and can replacethe private key with a new private key for the client computing deviceas part of a process for replacing an asymmetric key pair associatedwith the client computing device. For example, the process 1300, inwhole or in part, can be implemented by the filter driver 204, the filesystem data agent 904, the secure file access module 924, the encryptionmodule 922, the decryption module 928, the file monitor 930, and thestorage manager 140, to name a few. Although any number of systems, inwhole or in part, can implement the process 1300, to simplifydiscussion, portions of the process 1300 will be described withreference to particular systems.

As with the process 1200, the process 1300 may be performed in responseto a detected integrity breach with respect to a client computing device950 or storage manager 140. This integrity breach may include a detectedunauthorized access or an attempted unauthorized access of the clientcomputing device 950 or storage manager 140. The unauthorized access mayinclude an attempt, successful or otherwise, to access or decrypt aprivate key associated with the client computing device 950.Alternatively, or in addition, the process 1300 may be performed at ascheduled time to update or replace system passphrases for one or moreclient computing devices 950. Further, as will be described in moredetail below, the process 1300 may be used to replace asymmetric keysassociated with a user. Moreover, in some cases, the process 1300 can beperformed in combination with the process 1200 to replace both anasymmetric key pair and a passphrase for a client computing device 950and/or a user.

The process 1300 begins at block 1302 where, for example, the filesystem data agent 904 accesses an encrypted private key associated witha client computing device 950 from a file. In some embodiments, theblock 1302 may include one or more embodiments described above withrespect to the block 1202.

At block 1304, the file system data agent 904 obtains a copy of the dataencryption key for the file. Obtaining the copy of the data encryptionkey may include decrypting a copy of an encrypted private key associatedwith the client computing device 950 and using the decrypted private keyto decrypt an encrypted copy of the data encryption key as waspreviously described with respect to the blocks 1108-1116.

At block 1306, the file system data agent 904 discards the encryptedprivate key associated with the client computing device 950. Discardingthe private key of the client computing device 950 can includediscarding copies of the client computing device's 950 correspondingpublic key. In some embodiments, the block 1306 may be optional. Forexample, in some cases, the passphrase used to encrypt the private keymay be classified as inactive at the storage manager 140 thereby causingthe storage manager 140 to reject attempts to decrypt the encryptedprivate key.

The file system data agent 904 obtains a new asymmetric key pair for theclient computing device 950 at the block 1308. As previously mentioned,the asymmetric key pairs can be obtained using an RSA scheme, or anyother type of asymmetric encryption scheme. Further, in some cases, theencryption module 922 can generate the asymmetric encryption keys.

At block 1310, the encryption module 922 encrypts the copy of the dataencryption key using one of the keys (e.g., a public key) from the newasymmetric key pair. The encryption module 922, at block 1312, storesthe encrypted data encryption key with the file by, for example,embedding the encrypted data encryption key into the file or by storingthe encrypted data encryption key in an adjacent memory block.Alternatively, the encrypted data encryption key may be stored in adesignated storage area of the client computing device 950 for storingencryption keys, such as a hardware key manager or in a protected areaof memory. As another alternative, the encrypted data encryption key maybe stored in a designated area of the primary storage device 960.

At block 1314, the file system data agent 904 provides the second key(e.g., a private key) from the new asymmetric key pair to the storagemanager 140. The storage manager 140 can encrypt the private key using apassphrase or a hashed passphrase associated with the client computingdevice 950. In some embodiments, the storage manager 140 may select anew passphrase for the client computing device 950 and use the newpassphrase, or a hashed version thereof, to encrypt the private key.Thus, in some cases, the process 1200 may be performed in combinationwith the process 1300. Further, in certain embodiments, the block 1314can include one or more of the embodiments described above with respectto the block 1204.

At block 1316, the file system data agent 904 receives the new encryptedprivate key from the storage manager 140. In some embodiments, the block1316 can include one or more of the embodiments described above withrespect to the block 1206.

As previously mentioned, the process 1300, or a modified versionthereof, may be used to replace an asymmetric key pair for a user. Insuch embodiments, the encrypted private key obtained at the block 1302is the encrypted private key for the user whose encryption keys arebeing replaced. Further, obtaining the copy of the data encryption keymay include obtaining the user's passphrase by, for example, promptingthe user for the passphrase or obtaining the passphrase from theauthentication system 906 as previously described. The passphrase maythen be hashed and the hashed passphrase can be used to decrypt theencrypted private key. The decrypted private key can then be used todecrypt the encrypted data encryption key associated with the user forthe file to obtain the data encryption key. As with the process forreplacing the asymmetric key pair of the client computing device 950,the private key of the user may be discarded and a new asymmetric keypair for the user may be obtained. One of the asymmetric keys (e.g., thepublic key) can be used to encrypt the copy of the data encryption keyat block 1310. The encrypted data encryption key can be stored with thefile at block 1312. The second asymmetric key (e.g., the private key)can be encrypted using a passphrase, or hashed passphrase, associatedwith the user. This may by the same passphrase for the user obtainedduring the process of decrypting the copy of the data encryption key atthe block 1304. Alternatively, the file system data agent 904 may obtaina new passphrase for the user by, for example, prompting the user for anew passphrase.

In some embodiments, the process 1300, or a modified version thereof,may be used to provide additional users or client computing devices withaccess to an encrypted file. In such embodiments, the block 1302 and1304 may be performed to obtain access to a data encryption key.However, rather than discarding an encrypted private key or obtaining anew asymmetric key pair for the client computing device 950 or a userthat is associated with an existing copy of an encrypted data encryptionkey for the file, an asymmetric key pair is obtained or generated for anew client computing device and/or user at the block 1308. The blocks1310-1316 may then be performed using the new asymmetric key pair forthe new client computing device. Alternatively, the process described inthe previous paragraph with respect to the blocks 1310-1316 may be usedto encrypt a copy of the data encryption key and the private key for thenew user.

To remove authorization to access a file for a client computing deviceand/or for a user, the file system data agent 904 can obtain or extractthe encrypted copy of the data encryption key for the file correspondingto the client computing device or user whose authorization to access thefile is being removed. This encryption copy of the data encryption keycan then be deleted or discarded thereby preventing the client computingdevice or user from being able to obtain a decrypted version of the dataencryption key for the file.

In certain embodiments, a new asymmetric key pair may be selected forthe client computing device 950 using, for example, the processassociated with the block 1308. However, a data key for a file may notbe encrypted with the new private key of the new asymmetric key pairuntil the file is accessed by a user, or a system in the performance ofan operation, such as a backup process. For example, a new asymmetrickey pair may be selected for the client computing device 950 at a timeX. At some later time Y, a file may be accessed using an old private keyof the client computing device 950 associated with an older asymmetrickey pair. After the data encryption key is obtained for the file, it maybe reencrypted using the new public key of the new asymmetric key pair.The new private key can then be provided to the storage manger 140 forencryption using the client computing device's passphrase or hashedpassphrase.

It is possible to rotate the asymmetric keys at some time subsequent tothe replacement of the asymmetric key pairs because, for example, thestorage manager 140 can maintain the passphrase of the client computingdevice 950, even if the passphrase has been updated. Thus, for example,if a new asymmetric key pair is assigned to the client computing device950 and a new passphrase is generated for the client computing device950 to encrypt or obfuscate the private key of the new asymmetric keypair, the old passphrase may still be used to access the old private keyat the time that a file is first accessed subsequent to the clientcomputing device 950 being associated with a new asymmetric key pair.Once the data encryption key is extracted using the old asymmetric keypair, it can by protected using the new asymmetric key pair. In somecases, if there are no other files with data encryption keys that weresecured using the old asymmetric key pair, the old asymmetric key paircan then be discarded.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the data encryption keys for a setof files may be reencrypted using the new asymmetric key pair for theclient computing device 950 as part of a background and/or low-priorityprocess. For instance, when the client computing device 950 is idle, ornot being accessed by a user, files stored on the primary storage device960 may be accessed to rotate the client computing device's 950asymmetric key pair using, for example the process 1300.

Terminology

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of anyof the algorithms described herein can be performed in a differentsequence, can be added, merged, or left out all together (e.g., not alldescribed acts or events are necessary for the practice of thealgorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events can beperformed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing,interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or onother parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware,hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardwaresuitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modulesmay reside on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerizedtablets, PDAs, and other devices suitable for the purposes describedherein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local memory,via a network, via a browser, or via other means suitable for thepurposes described herein. Data structures described herein may comprisecomputer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures,or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or anycombinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. Userinterface elements described herein may comprise elements from graphicaluser interfaces, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, the processing of the various components of the illustratedsystems can be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. In addition, two or more components of a system canbe combined into fewer components. Various components of the illustratedsystems can be implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather thanin dedicated computer hardware systems. Likewise, the data repositoriesshown can represent physical and/or logical data storage, including, forexample, storage area networks or other distributed storage systems.Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between the componentsshown represent possible paths of data flow, rather than actualconnections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processorof a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagramblock or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to operate in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto cause a series of operations to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process suchthat the instructions which execute on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus provide steps for implementing the acts specifiedin the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the disclosure. Indeed, the novel methods and systems describedherein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the describedmethods and systems may be made without departing from the spirit of thedisclosure. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the disclosure.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method of rotating a client key of a client computingdevice, the method comprising: by a client computing device comprisingone or more hardware processors and a storage: detecting a key rotationtrigger associated with updating a first asymmetric key pair for theclient computing device, wherein a public key of the first asymmetrickey pair was used to encrypt a data encryption key that was used toencrypt a file; decrypting a first encrypted copy of the data encryptionkey using a private key of the first asymmetric key pair to obtain adecrypted data encryption key; discarding the private key of the firstasymmetric key pair; obtaining a second asymmetric key pair that differsfrom the first asymmetric key pair; associating the second asymmetrickey pair with the client computing device; encrypting the decrypted dataencryption key using a public key of the second asymmetric key pair toobtain a second encrypted copy of the data encryption key that differsfrom the first encrypted copy of the data encryption key; discarding thedecrypted data encryption key; and storing the second encrypted copy ofthe data encryption key.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein decryptingthe first encrypted copy of the data encryption key comprises: accessingan encrypted copy of the private key of the first asymmetric key pair;providing the encrypted copy of the private key of the first asymmetrickey pair to a storage manager; receiving the private key of the firstasymmetric key pair from the storage manager; obtaining the firstencrypted copy of the data encryption key; and decrypting the firstencrypted copy of the data encryption key using the private key of thefirst asymmetric key pair to obtain the decrypted data encryption key.4. The method of claim 2, wherein discarding the private key of thefirst asymmetric key pair comprises discarding a client passphrase ofthe client computing device.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereindiscarding the client passphrase comprises designating the clientpassphrase as inactive.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein storing thesecond encrypted copy of the data encryption key comprises embedding thesecond encrypted copy of the data encryption key with an encrypted copyof the file.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the key rotation triggercomprises one or more of an unauthorized access of the client computingdevice, an attempted unauthorized access of the client computing device,or a scheduled time being reached.
 8. The method of claim 2, whereindiscarding the private key of the first asymmetric key pair includesdiscarding an encrypted copy of the private key of the first asymmetrickey pair.
 9. The method of claim 2, wherein discarding the private keyof the first asymmetric key pair includes discarding a public key of thefirst asymmetric key pair.
 10. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising: providing a private key of the second asymmetric key pair toa storage manager of an information management system that includes theclient computing device; receiving from the storage manager an encryptedcopy of the private key of the second asymmetric key pair; storing theencrypted copy of the private key of the second asymmetric key pair; anddiscarding the private key of the second asymmetric key pair.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the encrypted copy of the private key of thesecond asymmetric key pair is encrypted using, at least in part, aclient passphrase of the client computing device.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the client passphrase of the client computing devicediffers from a client passphrase used, at least in part, to encrypt theprivate key of the first asymmetric key pair.
 13. The method of claim 2,wherein discarding the private key of the first asymmetric key pair andthe decrypted data encryption key comprises deleting the private key ofthe first asymmetric key pair and the decrypted data encryption key fromthe client computing device.
 14. A system for rotating a client key of acomputing device, the system comprising: a primary storage deviceconfigured to store a set of files; and a computing device comprisingone or more hardware processors, the one or more hardware processorsconfigured to: detect a key rotation trigger associated with updating afirst asymmetric key pair for the client computing device, wherein apublic key of the first asymmetric key pair was used to encrypt a dataencryption key that was used to encrypt a file stored on the primarystorage device; decrypt a first encrypted copy of the data encryptionkey using a private key of the first asymmetric key pair to obtain adecrypted data encryption key; discard the private key of the firstasymmetric key pair; obtain a second asymmetric key pair that differsfrom the first asymmetric key pair; associate the second asymmetric keypair with the client computing device; encrypt the decrypted dataencryption key using a public key of the second asymmetric key pair toobtain a second encrypted copy of the data encryption key that differsfrom the first encrypted copy of the data encryption key; discard thedecrypted data encryption key; and store the second encrypted copy ofthe data encryption key.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one ormore hardware processors are further configured to decrypt the firstencrypted copy of the data encryption key by at least: accessing anencrypted copy of the private key of the first asymmetric key pair;providing the encrypted copy of the private key of the first asymmetrickey pair to a storage manager; receiving the private key of the firstasymmetric key pair from the storage manager; obtaining the firstencrypted copy of the data encryption key; and decrypting the firstencrypted copy of the data encryption key using the private key of thefirst asymmetric key pair to obtain the decrypted data encryption key.16. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more hardware processorsare further configured to store the second encrypted copy of the dataencryption key by at least embedding the second encrypted copy of thedata encryption key with an encrypted copy of the file.
 17. The systemof claim 14, wherein the key rotation trigger comprises one or more ofan unauthorized access of the client computing device, an attemptedunauthorized access of the client computing device, or a scheduled timebeing reached.
 18. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or morehardware processors are further configured to discard one or more of anencrypted copy of the private key of the first asymmetric key pair or apublic key of the first asymmetric key pair.
 19. The system of claim 14,wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to:provide a private key of the second asymmetric key pair to a storagemanager of an information management system; receive from the storagemanager an encrypted copy of the private key of the second asymmetrickey pair; store the encrypted copy of the private key of the secondasymmetric key pair; and discard the private key of the secondasymmetric key pair.
 20. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or morehardware processors are further configured to discard the private key ofthe first asymmetric key pair and the decrypted data encryption key byat least deleting the private key of the first asymmetric key pair andthe decrypted data encryption key from the client computing device. 21.The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more hardware processors arefurther configured to generate the second asymmetric key pair.